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WEBSTER,  NY.  14580 

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CIHM/ICMH 

Microfiche 

Series. 


CIHM/ICMH 
Collection  de 
microfiches. 


Canadian  Institi.te  for  Historical  Microreproductions  /  Institut  Canadian  de  microreproductions  historiquas 


Technical  and  Bibliographic  Notas/Notas  tachniquas  at  bibliographiquas 


The 
to  t 


The  institute  has  attempted  to  obtain  the  best 
original  copy  available  for  filming,  features  of  this 
copy  whicli  may  be  bibliographicaily  unique, 
which  may  alter  any  of  the  images  in  the 
reproduction,  or  which  may  significantly  change 
the  usual  method  of  filming,  are  checked  below. 


D 


Coloured  covers/ 
Couverture  de  couieur 


I      I    Covers  damaged/ 


Couverture  endommagAe 

Covers  restored  and/or  laminated/ 
Couverture  restaur^  et/ou  pellicula 

Cover  title  missing/ 

Le  titre  de  couverture  manque 

Coloured  maps/ 

Cartes  jAographiquea  en  couieur 

Coloured  ink  (i.e.  other  than  blue  or  black)/ 
Encre  de  couieur  (i.e.  autre  que  blaue  ou  noire) 


I      I    Coloured  plates  and/or  illustrations/ 


D 

D 


D 


Planches  et/ou  illustrations  en  couieur 


Bound  with  other  material/ 
Relii  avec  d'autres  documants 


Tight  binding  may  causa  shadows  or  distortion 
along  interior  maigin/ 

La  re  liure  serrde  peut  causer  de  I'ombre  ou  de  la 
distorsion  la  long  de  la  marge  intArieure 

Blank  leaves  added  during  restoration  may 
appear  within  the  text.  Whenever  possible,  these 
have  been  omitted  from  filming/ 
II  se  peut  que  certaines  pages  blanches  ajouties 
lors  d'une  restauration  apparaissent  dans  le  texte, 
mais,  lorsque  cela  itait  possible,  ces  pages  n'ont 
pas  M  fiimAes. 


L'Institut  a  microfilm^  le  meilleur  axempiaire 
qu'il  lui  a  M  possible  de  se  procurer.  Les  details 
de  cet  exemplaire  qui  sont  peut-dtre  uniques  du 
point  de  vue  bibliogrephiqud,  qui  peuvent  modifier 
une  image  reproduite,  ou  qui  peuvent  exiger  une 
modification  dans  la  mithode  normale  de  fiimage 
30nt  indiquis  ci-dessous. 


□ 

n 

n 
0 
n 
n 

n 


Coloured  pages/ 
Pages  de  couieur 

Pages  damaged/ 
Pages  endommagies 

Pages  restored  and/or  laminated/ 
Pages  restaurdes  et/ou  pelliculies 

Pages  discoloured,  stained  or  foxed/ 
Pages  dicolor^es,  tachetAes  ou  piquies 

Pages  detached/ 
Pages  ditach^es 

Showthrough/ 
Transparence 

Quality  of  print  varies/ 
Quality  inigale  de  I'impression 

Includes  supplementary  material/ 
Comprend  du  material  suppl4mentaire 

Only  edition  available/ 
Seule  Mition  disponible 

Pages  wholly  or  partially  obscured  by  errata 
slips,  tissues,  etc.,  have  been  refilmed  to 
ensur(i  the  best  possible  image/ 
Les  psges  totalement  ou  partiellement 
obscurcies  par  un  feuillet  d'errata.  une  pelure, 
etc.,  ont  6t6  filmies  i  nouveau  de  fapon  i 
obtenir  la  meilleure  image  possible. 


Tho 
posi 
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film 


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the 

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first 

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or  il 


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Additional  comments:/ 
Commentaires  supplimentaires: 


Various  pagings. 


This  item  is  filmed  at  the  reduction  ratio  checked  below/ 

Ce  document  est  filmi  au  taux  de  reduction  indiquA  ci-dessous. 

10X  14X  18X  22X 


12X 


16X 


20X 


26X 


30X 


24X 


28X 


32X 


The  copy  filmed  here  has  been  reproduced  thanks 
to  the  generosity  of: 

University  of  Saslutclwwan 
Sasitatoon 


L'exemplaire  film*  fut  reproduit  grAce  k  la 
g^ntrosit*  de: 

University  of  Sasicatcliewen 
Saslcatoon 


Tho  images  appearing  hero  sre  the  best  quality 
possible  considering  the  condition  ard  legibility 
of  ihe  original  copy  and  in  keeping  with  the 
filming  contract  specifications. 


Original  copies  in  printed  paper  covers  are  filmed 
beginning  with  the  front  cover  and  ending  on 
the  last  page  with  a  printed  or  illustrated  impres- 
sion, or  the  back  cover  when  appropriate.  All 
other  original  copies  are  filmed  beginning  on  the 
first  page  with  a  printed  or  illustrated  impres- 
sion, and  ending  on  the  last  page  with  a  printed 
or  illustrated  impression. 


The  last  recorded  frame  on  each  microfiche 
shall  contain  the  symbol  <— »-  (meaning  "CON- 
TINUED"), or  the  symbol  V  (meaning  "END"), 
whichever  applies. 


Les  images  suivantes  ont  6t6  reproduites  avec  le 
plus  grand  soin,  compte  tenu  de  la  condition  et 
de  la  nettet«  de  l'exemplaire  film«.  et  en 
conformity  avec  les  conditions  du  contrat  de 
filmage. 

Les  exemplaires  originaux  dont  la  couverture  en 
papier  est  imprimie  sont  filmte  en  commen9ant 
par  le  premier  plat  et  en  terminant  soit  par  la 
dernidre  page  qui  comporte  une  empreinte 
d'impression  ou  d'illustration.  soit  par  le  second 
plat,  salon  le  cas.  Tous  les  autres  exemplaires 
originaux  sont  film6s  en  commenpant  par  la 
premidre  page  qui  comporte  une  empreinte 
d'impression  ou  d'illustration  et  en  terminant  par 
la  dernidre  page  qui  comporte  une  telle 
empreinte. 

Un  des  symboles  suivants  apparaltra  sur  la 
dernidre  image  de  cheque  microfiche,  selon  le 
cas:  le  symbole  — ►  signif le  "A  SUIVRE",  le 
symbole  V  signifie  "FIN". 


Maps,  plates,  charts,  etc.,  may  be  filmed  at 
different  reduction  ratios.  Those  toe  large  to  be 
entirely  included  in  one  exposure  are  filritad 
beginning  in  the  upper  left  hand  corner,  left  to 
right  and  top  to  bottom,  as  many  frames  as 
required.  The  following  diagrams  illustrate  the 
method: 


Les  cartes,  planches,  tableaux,  etc.,  peuvent  §tre 
film6s  A  des  taux  de  rMuction  diffirents. 
Lorsque  le  document  est  trop  grand  pour  dtre 
reproduit  en  un  seul  cliche,  ii  est  filmi  d  partir 
de  I'angle  sup^rieur  gauche,  de  gauuhe  A  droite, 
et  de  haut  en  bas.  en  prenant  le  nombre 
d'images  nicessaire.  Les  diagrammes  suivants 
illustrent  la  m^thode. 


1 

2 

3 

1 

2 

3 

4 

5 

6 

/ 


QUESTIONS  OF  THE  DAY 


«^v 


««»• 


i 


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ESSAYS   ON 


QUESTIONS    OF   THE   DAY 

POLITICAL   AND   SOCIAL       ^"^^   ' 


LIBRARY 


BY 


^atghhnI 


".■V    /S 


GOLD  WIN  SMITH,  DCL 


SECOND  EDITION,  REVISED 


DEC  4     'J58 


MACMILLAN    AND    CO. 

AND   LONDON 
1894 

■^M  ri^A<»  reserved 


153896 


\ 

F 
P 

01 

C( 


'      Copyright,  1893, 
bt  maumillan  and  CO. 


Set  up  and  elcctrotyped  November,  1893.      Revised 
edition  printed  August,  1894. 


Notiao0li  JPresa : 

J.  S.  Gushing  &  Co.  —  Berwick  &  Smith. 

Boston,  Mass.,  U.S.A. 


Ill 
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viol 


PREFACE  TO  REVISED   EDITION. 


s 


These  Essays  are  the  outcome  of  discussions  in  which  the 
writer  has  been  engaged  on  the  several  questions,  and  are 
partly  drawn  from  papers  contributed  by  him  to  dilferent 
periodicals. 

Of  the  subjects  some  are  specially  British,  though  not  with- 
out interest  for  a  citizen  of  the  United  States;  others  are 
common  to  both  countries. 

Some  service  may  be  done  by  bringing  an  important  question 
into  focus,  even  when  the  reader  does  not  agree  with  the 
opinions  of  the  writer. 

The  opinions  of  the  present  writer  are  those  of  aLiberal  of 
the  old  school,  as  yet  unconverted  to  State  Socialism,  who  still 
looks  for  further  improvement,  not  to  increased  interference 
of  government,  but  to  individual  effort,  free  association,  and 
lie  same  agencies,  moral,  intellectual,  and  economical,  which 
have  brought  us  thus  far,  and  one  of  which,  science,  is  now 
operating  witli  immensely  increased  power;   deeming  it  the 
function  of  government  to  protect  these  agencies,  not  to  super- 
sede them.     A  writer  of  this  school  can  have  no  panacea  or 
nostrum  to  offer;  and  when  a  nostrum  or  panacea  is  offered, 
lie  will  necessarily  be  found  rather  on  the  critical  side.     He 
will   look   for   improvement,    not   for   regeneration;    expect 
improvement  still  to  be,  as  it  has  been,  gradual;   and  hope 
much  from  steady,  calm,  and  harmonious  effort,  little  from 
violence  or  revolution.     In  las  estimation  the  clearest  gain 


4 


VI 


PHEFACK   TO    KE VISED   EDITION. 


reaped  by  tlie  world  from  tlie  political  struggles  through 
wliich  it  has  been  going,  amidst  much  that  is  equivocal  or 
still  on  trial,  will  be  liberty  of  opinion. 

In  America  rather  than  in  England  an  old  English  Liberal 
now  finds  his  political  home.  In  England  that  which  was  the 
Liberal  party  is  becoming  the  party  of  State  Socialism,  or,  as 
Mr.  Cleveland  calls  it,  of  Paternalism,  though  it  retains  the 
name,  to  which,  as  etymology  itself  protests,  only  those  who 
liave  faith  in  liberty  are  entitled.  America,  though  now  invaded 
by  State  Socialism,  is  still  a  land  of  liberty  regulated  and  pro- 
tected by  law,  in  which  every  man  is  free  to  do  his  best  for 
himself,  which  as  a  general  rule  he  can  hardly  do  without 
also  doing  what  is  best  for  the  commonwealth. 

The  essay  which  has  required  most  revision  is  that  on  the 
Political  Crisis  in  England.  The  scene  shifts  rapidly  on  the 
English  stage,  while  the  nation  is  apparently  drifting  towards 
socialistic  revolution.  In  the  question  whether  the  House  of 
Lords  shall  be  abolished,  reduced  to  impotence,  or  so  reorgan- 
ised as  to  make  it,  like  the  American  Senate,  a  conservative 
institution,  interest  centres.  If  the  Second  Chamber  falls, 
there  is  apparently  nothing  between  the  nation  and  revolu- 
tion. Already,  the  Lords  having  renounced  amendment  of  the 
Budget,  there  is  no  bar  to  socialistic  confiscation. 

Since  this  essay  on  the  Political  Crisis  in  England  was  writ- 
ten and  a  comparison  was  incidentally  drawn  in  it  between  the 
industrial  situation  in  England  and  that  in  the  United  States 
to  the  advantage  of  the  latter,  we  have  had  in  the  United 
States  a  sudden  outburst  of  industrial  war.  When  the  organi- 
sation of  the  Knights  of  Labour,  at  one  time  so  much  dreaded, 
had  lost  its  force,  general  peace  seemed  to  have  been  pretty 
well  assured.     This  eruption  is  not  normal,  but  is  the  conse- 


I'UKl-ACli)   TO   UKVKSKD   EDITION. 


i   through 
iivocal  or 

ih  Liberal 
h  was  the 
sm,  or,  as 
itaiiis  the 
hose  who 
IV  invaded 
and  pro- 
i  best  for 
'  without 

at  on  the 
ly  on  the 
f  towards 
House  of 
reorgan- 
servative 
ler  falls, 
I  revolu- 
nt  of  the 

^as  writ- 
veen  the 
d  States 
United 
I  organ  i- 
Ireaded, 
1  pretty 
e  conse- 


vii 


quence  of  the  financial  crisis  which  has  paralysed  commerce, 
deranged  industry,  reduced  wages,  and  thrown  ,nany  altogethe 
out  of  emp  oyment,  especially  in  congested  centres  of  labour 
such  as  Cahfornia  and  Chicago,  at  the  latter  of  which  nu.h 
labour  had  been  collected,  and  discharged,  by  the  World's 
Fa  Ihe  violence  was  foreign.  The  native  American  is 
faithful  to  law.  The  apparent  dimensions  of  the  disturbance 
were  magnified  by  the  extent  of  its  influence 

We  have  had  a  lesson,  however,  on  the  character  of  a  Trade- 
Union  system,  which  placed  national  commerce,  the  subsistence 
t  myriads,  and  the  peace  of  society  at  the  mercy  of  a  labour 
despot  whose  personal  game  is  believed  to  have  had  as  much 
to  do  with  the  catastrophe  as  the  Pullman  quarrel.  The 
confl.et  between  employer  and  employed  has  given  birth  tl  a 
set  of  adventurers  who  subsist  by  industrial  wax-  and  exult 
-when  widespread  havoc  makes  the  community  tremble  at  their 
power.  wioii 

The  attention  of  politicians  of  the  regular  parties,  as  they 
are  tenned,  :s  called  tc  the  growth  of  another  plrty,  not 
regular  or  „>deed  political,  whose  single  aim  it  is  to  aggrLise 
the  wage-earnmg  class,  or  that  part  of  it  which  is  capable  o 
orgamsafon,  at  the  expense  of  other  classes,  and  which,  as  its 

ve  y  httle  for  the  interest  of  the  community  at  large.  What 
wm  he  the  effect  of  this  intrusive  power  o„  politics  L  p!^it  - 
al  combrnatrons?  Will  good  citizens  find  it  safe  any  Lger 
o  d.„de  themselves  on  the  „hl  party  lines,  when,  by  their 
a msron,  they  will  probably  bring  about  the  trium;h  of  the 
common  enemy?  If  party  politicians  can  think  of  anything 
^ond^the  immediate  game,  this  crisis  a^ords  them  1^2 


viii 


PREFACE  TO   REVISED   EDITION. 


It  does  not  scoin  that  the  Pullman  strike  was  justified.  The 
Company  (ixplaiufMl  tho  situation  to  its  men.  It  could  not  be 
expected  to  pay  more  for  the  work  than  tho  goods  would  bring 
in  the  market.  Nor  in  such  a  case  was  there  any  room  for 
arbitration.  Had  the  men  been  simply  discharged,  there  would 
apparently  have  been  nothing  more  to  be  said. 

The  preachings  of  the  Socialists  and  Utopians  have  toldj 
not  their  philosophies  or  their  visions,  to  which  the  mechanic 
pays  little  heed,  but  their  appeals  to  class  passions,  to  hatred 
of  the  rich,  and  to  the  lust  of  public  plunder.  Go  to  any 
socialistic  meeting,  however  respectable,  and  whatever  may  be 
the  formal  course  of  the  discussion,  you  will  find  that  the 
pervading  sentiment  is  the  same.  Men  who  ultimately  proved 
some  of  the  most  sanguinary  of  the  French  Terrorists  began 
with  sentiments  milder  than  those  to  which  Socialists,  Com- 
munists, and  Nationalisers  of  land,  to  say  nothing  of  Anar- 
chists, are  giving  utterance  now. 

Of  any  duties  of  the  workingman  towards  his  employer  or 
the  community,  of  any  power  which  he  has  of  improving  his 
own  lot  by  frugality,  temperance,  diligence,  self-restraint,  in 
the  organs  of  labour-agitation  there  is  seldom  a  word.  Em- 
ployers, good  and  bad,  are  alike  held  up  to  odium  under  the 
sweeping  designation  of  capital,  presented  as  the  "spoilers" 
who  prey  upon  the  "toilers,"  and  pointed  out  as  the  objects  of 
an  everlasting  war.  The  Pullman  establishment  must  have 
fed,  since  its  formation,  thousands;  yet  it  is  treated  as  labour's 
foe,  and  wrecked  at  the  bidding  of  incendiaries  who  have  never 
given  any  one  an  ounce  of  bread. 

If  society  does  not  mean  to  go  under  the  Unionist  yoke, 
it  will  have  to  uphold  freedom  of  labour.  When  men  do  not 
choose  to  work  for  the  wages  offered  them  they  Lave  a  right. 


PREFACE  TO   IlE VISED    EUITION. 


is 


ied.  The 
ild  not  be 
luld  bring 
room  for 
ere  would 

ave  told; 
mechanic 
to  hatred 

0  to  any 
r  may  be 
that  the 
.y  proved 
its  began 
its,  Com- 
of  Anar- 

jloyer  or 
•ving  his 
raint,  in 
d.  Em- 
nder  the 
poilers  " 
ejects  of 
Lst  have 
labour's 
/e  never 

t  yoke, 
do  not 

1  right. 


individually,  or  collectively  as  a  Union,  to  refuse.  But  they 
have  no  right  by  violenoo,  pliysical  or  moral,  to  prevent  otlier 
men  from  taking  thi;  work.  This  is  tirm  ground,  if  tiio  (im- 
munity will  be  true  to  itself.  Unlortunatcdy,  the  eonnuunity 
can  act  only  tiirough  elective  legislators  who  tremble  at  the 
thought  of  the  labour  vote. 

The  action  of  President  Cleveland  was  applauded  by  all 
good  citizens.     Can  it  bo  doubted  that  lie  was  right  in  putting 
forth  the  military  force  of  the  commonwealth  to  control  an 
anarchical  usurper  who,  in  his  attempt  to  reduce  the  community 
to  submission  by  boycotting,  sympathetic  strikes,  tying    up 
railways,  stopping  the   mails,  intercepting  inter-State  com- 
merce, disorganising  the  industry  of  the  country,  and  tiireaten- 
ingto  deprive  large  districts  of  subsistence,  was  morally  levying 
war  against  the  United  States?    Tiie  appeal  to  patriotism  was 
of  the  same  kind  as  in  1801,  though  not  so  loud  or  thrilling. 
Patriotism,  after  a  moment  of  stupor,  answered  the  appeal  and 
mounted  the  national  colours  against  the  anarchic  emblem. 
But  it  is  not,  as  in  l8(;i,   at  its  highest  nuirk.     At  Wash- 
ington some  of  the  senators,  such  as  Senator  Davis  of  Minne- 
sota, were  brave  and  true  to  the  country.     But  we  are  told 
that  it  was  impossible  to  get  an  expression  of  opinion  from 
any  member  of  the  House  of  Representatives.     What  is  to  be 
expected  of  men  whose  political  life  at  the  next  election  will 
be  at  the  mercy  of  the  labour  vote?     It  was  fortunate  that  the 
President  was  in  his  second  term.     Yet  a  politician,  with  the 
wire-puller  at  his  ear,  often  errs  in  tliinking  that  the  timid 
course  is  the  safest. 

There  is  no  use  in  blinking  the  fact  that  for  the  restoration 
of  order  and  the  prevention  of  furtlier  havoc,  happily  at  small 
cost  of  blood,  tlie  country  was  mainly  indebted  to  the  discipline, 


X  I'REFACI!   TO   KEVISEIJ   EDITION. 

eoustancy,  aud  courage  of  a  handf„l  of  regulav  soUlic.      The 
day  has  not  yet  come  on  which  a  regu'ar  axmv     1       ,     ! 

ftay ,  they  either  refuse  to  fire  or  fire  too  soon.     The  regular 
soldier  fires  at  the  word  of  command.    Nor  can  the  Z 
of  authority  or  discipline  be  yet  spared  ■^'*'"'" 

JUI^JT  ""  ""''""^  '^"  '""''^™  "^  Company, 
as  makei..  of  railway  cars,  and  their  workmen,  than  between 

the  Company,  as  owners  of  the  model  village  of  P„l  Z 
and   their  tenants.      There   has    been    f     .  PuHman, 

ywe  .as  friction  in  its  CLt:.:::  ^;j:''r 

.'     "  '"■    ^"""'™  "■«!  Saltaire  are  partial  realisation, 

oral  t.nrr ""™™ '-'''  ''^^"  "-'^  ■■— i  "^ 

Td  S„r  f"  "'■"*"■    ^"'  "'^  P*''"alisin  of  Pullman 

-cl  Saltaire  ,s  far  less  meddling  than  that  of  the  socirr 
community  would  be.  socialistic 

m  the  high  places  of  commerce,  illicit  speculation,  watering 

of  stocks,  want  of  integrity  in  the  management  of  railZ' 
e  derangement  of  the  currency  for  a  political  purpose,  Z'e 

sources  of  the  financial  crisis  from  which  induslia,  di  tu  b 
anee  flowed,  and  are  as  mud,   to  blame  as   the  malil  aM 
— n  of  the  labour  demagogues  who  gave  the  ^.^t  t 
"tuk.      Nor  can  justice  pass  by  the  wealthy  men  of  America 
-!.o,  heedless  of  the  responsibilities  of  wealth,  waste    ton 

"xury  and  ostentation,  often  in  the  pleasure  cities  of  Europe 
It  may  be  true  that  they  are  excluded  from   politics    but 
politics  are  not  the  .hole  of  life.     They  can  reml  ^t  'the 


PREFACE  TO   UIOVqSED   EDITION. 


XI 


liers.  The 
to  upliold 
leed  of  civ- 
^1  or  social 
'he  regular 
he  pattern 

Company, 
a  between 
Pullman, 
Pullman, 
aire.     In- 
Jnevolent, 
ilisations, 
d,  o[  the 
is  in  the 
Pullman 
ocialistic 

shonesty 
watering 
ailways, 
•se,  were 
disturb- 
alignant 
!  for  the 
America 
e  it  on 
Europe, 
cs,  but 
it  their 


posts  and  do  tlieir  social  duty.    If  they  will  not,  they  deserve 
to  be  plundered,  9nd  plundered  they  will  be. 

The  social  and  political  danger  caused  by  the  existence  of 

so  sharp  a  division  between  employer  and  employed  has  been 

brought  with   terrible  vividness  before  us  by  this  conflict. 

To  make  that  division  sharper  still  and  envenom  it  at  the 

same  time,   is  tlie  aim  of  the  labour  incendiary.     To  soften 

and,  if  possible,  efface  it,  must  be  the  aim  of  every  one  who 

desires   peace    with    justice.      Personal   intercourse   may   do 

something.      It   is   an    unfortunate    part    of   the   joint-stock 

system  that  a  company  is  not  personal  and  can  present  only  a 

hard  commercial  aspect  to  its  workmen. 

State  Socialism  in  England  scoffs  at  the  American  system 
of  law  and   liberty  as  though  it  were  answerable   for  these 
disasters.     It  is  dilficult  to  imagine  anything  less  chargeable 
to  the  account  of  a  system  of  law  and  liberty  than  the  tyranny 
of  a  labour  despot  and  his  organisation.     What  would  the 
State  Socialist  have  done  in  the  premises?    Would  he  have 
compelled  the  Pullman  Company,  by  legislation,  to  carry  on  a 
losing  trade  for  the  benefit  of  their  workmen?    When  English 
Socialism  says  that  America  is  fifty  years  behind  England  in 
the  treatment  of  the   labour   question,  what  does  it  mean? 
Whence   but  from   England   and   Europe   did   this    curse   of 
industrial  war,  witl^  its  Unionist  tyrannies,  its  strikes,  boy- 
cottin-   and  oatteaings  come?     When  tlie  Shelheld  outrages 
we      -ommitted  tliero  had   hardly  been   such  a  thing  as  in- 
dusi.ial  war  in  the  United  States.      In  striking  the  balance 
between  tho  economical  situations  in  the  two  countries,  it  is 
not  10  be  forgotten  that  Ireland  has  been  now  for  a  series  of 
ynars  in  a  state  of  agrarian  rebellion. 

The  State  Socialists  of   the  British    Commons    the    other 


XII 


PREFACE  TO  REVISED  EDITION. 


^  passed  a  Bill  li.„iti„g  t„e  hours  of  labour  in  „i„es 

the.  i.  ..ot„iu«..„aii,  ji  r  r~;::r''"'''-^''' 

ate  the  hours  aud  wages  of  its  owu  ^Zt^Z^' 
because  the  taxpayer  Hnds  the  u.ouey.     But  Zl       '  ' 

l>:.yi..«  the  .ages  out  of  their  ow"^  pur'  ;'  f^';' 

«.ete,,  hours-  pay  fo.  ei.ht  hours'  L,  iZlf::^  ^ 

.e  e,«ht  hours  .s  really  eyuivaleat  to  that  of  the  t   ,    a^d 
l.e  vvork„,au  whose  eight  hours  are  not  as  good  as      1  Z 
I'ours,    that   is,   the  weaker  workm-m    will  il         , 

being  thrown  out  of  eu.ployu.„ut  a  ::;,:       I'u  ""i  "' 
"f  the  House  of  Conunons  who  -o ted  i  't,  '°  "  f  "^'^"'^ 

;:;2;:::--eapparent:irti:\r::: 

How  ean  the  rate  of  :::\::j:^::  -r-- 

.-  .an  eonnuensurate  with  th!  serrll^^r^ 
de   in    heT    """""^  '^  ""  "'"■»'"'-■  -"»  cannot  be 

-  you  Will,  it  Will  rise  1^:.         "  """  '"  *="""*'  «^'"— 
tionti'l'f ''  '■""u"''  "'*'  '""'''"■'*  "'>''  '^  ''^PaWe  of  reflec- 


PREFACE   TO    REVISED   EDITION. 


Xlll 


•   in  mines, 
tlie  freedom 
ud  cliildreu, 
''  may  regu- 
it  pleases, 
employers, 
fc  afford  to 
lie  work  of 
e  ten;  and 
as  his  ten 
danger  of 
3  members 
■  this  can 
ed  to  the 

r  made  to 

ng  wago. 

the  'ate 

r  0^  the 

Y,  taking 
'  average 
and  the 
mnot  be 
lan  they 
oquence 

i  reflec- 

serious 

ond  the 

1"  to  be 


aware  that  he  is  aggravating  that  danger  when  he  relieves 
parents,  at  the  expense  of  the  State,  of  the  duty  of  educating 
the  children  whom  they  bring  into  the  world,  and  proposes 
even  partly  to  relieve  them  of  the  duty  of  providing  the 
children  with  food.  The  case  is  made  worse  by  the  action  of 
Trade-Unions,  which,  rendering  employment  a  monopoly,  pre- 
vents the  fair  distribution  of  such  means  of  livelihood  as 
there  are. 

Since  the  essay  on  the  Empire  was  published,  an  inter- 
colonial conference  has  been  sitting  at  Ottawa  in  the  interest 
of  Imperial  Federation,  or  at  least  of  imperial  union      All 
that  good  dinners,  flowing  wine,  and  fraternal  eloquence  could 
do  to  annul  the  opposition  of  nature  has  been  done.     If  those 
genial  powers  can  prevail,  Canada  will  be  detached  from  the 
American  Continent,  and  attached  permanently  to   Europe, 
while  all  the  obstacles  to  the  secure  transit  of  trade  or  of 
armies  through  her  sub-Arctic  region,  with  its  wildernesses, 
mountain  ranges,  avalanches,  snow-blocks,  floods,  and  land- 
slips, will  disappear.     It  seems  that  nothing  was,  said  about 
contribution  to  imperial  armaments,  which  is  the  root  of  the 
matter  and  the  test  of  sincerity  in  the  cause.     About  fiscal 
discrimination  something  was  said  but  not  well  received  by 
the  imperial  country.     Do  what  we  will,  the  North  American 
Continent  will  in  the  end  assert  its  unity  and  independence 
against  all  efforts  to  keep  it  divided,  and  a  part  of  it  depend- 
ent, in  the  imagined  interest  of  a  European  power. 

Since  the  essay  on  Woman  Suffrage  was  published,  the 
question  has  recently  come  to  a  head  in  New  York  in  connec- 
tion with  the  Convention  called  to  amend  the  State  constitu- 


XIV 


PREFACE   TO   REVISED    EDITION. 


tion.      A  protest  has  been  entered  a^ain^f  fi       u 
number  of  ladios  sufficient  to  show  "'11  „  '''  "'  " 

speak  i„  the  male  interest  alone  A^  oear^t  T  ""' 
have  appealed  to  Con.ostio  sentiment  T^STt^'T 
spirit  of  tlie  home  will  find  its  w,v  i„f  ^,  '^"'"«  *''^'  *'« 
through  the  female  vote.     hLZ  Ifa  '"r™"' 

-  conjure;  hut  it  is  difficult  ^  e^h tie  IZ^JT'""^ 
and  parental  affection  or  that  of  ho„sewi;e  f  an  tT^f' ^^ 
into  the  action  Of  a  political  government  any'  Ze  h:!! 
that  of  a  judiciary.     What  the  home  asks  of  goT  rle  ' 
protection,  as  of  the  judiciary  it  asks  justice   ^Z 
of  political  and  social  danger  opened  bv    ht     ^""r^^"" 
win  hardly  dispose  the  legiltors'     the  pe  p  e  Tkc  Tl 
to  throw  wide  the  political  flood-gates  and  Jd  7  /  " 
eWnts  Of  turmoil  the  inrush  o^Z ZTlZ^ir'"'' 

has"ertdrL:;*''V™''  *'^^"™  ""^  -'''^''  -^^t"-  he 
nas  erred  oi  not,  has  been  guilty  of  no  "apostasy  "    Thi  ^ 

years  ago  in  a  little  work  called  "Tri.i,  T^f^^-  ^'"'''y 
Character,"  he  defended  the  U  fon  o  the  "  ^^  '''''  "'- 
Which  he  defends  it  now;  thl  h ^aL  /tT/hn''""^" 
nowre(,uire  alteration   h.  ^  ^°''^  ^°"^d 

has  thr'own  n^t^^Zt^IT  '  ™^  ''''''™'  ^^-^ 
-n  the  political  :.ZZlC,':^7,  2  n  •  ""'^"^  '" 
With  John  Bright  th»      •»  ^'"*^''  ^'^'tes. 

-t  Of  the^s^i:t::ri:7tr°'-'^"'*- 

justice   to   fl.«    T  •  1,  '"""^cn,  and  for  every  measure  of 


I 


hange,  by  a 
Bnt  does  not 
the  change 
»g  that  the 
government 
wherewith 
of  conjugal 
be  infused 
6  than  into 
3rnment  is 
^e  prospect 
!nt  strikes 
New  York 
le  present 
vote. 

fiether  he 
'    Thirty 
md  Irish 
ounds  on 
)k  would 
research 
riter  has 
I  States, 
stablish- 
asure  of 
he   was 
der,  his 
though 
nfusion 
never 


PRKFACE    TO    REVISEJ)    KDITION.  vir 

pinned  his  faitl-.     Mo  wont  with  John    Bright  and  against 
M..  Ghulston..  wJion   England  was  divided  in   sympathy  be- 
tween American  union  and  secession.      He  cannot   believe 
that  any  American  who  was  true  to  his  own  Uni'>n  will  think 
worse  of  Englishmen  for  being  true  to  theirs.     Nor  can  ho 
believe  that  many  Americans  are  at  heart  very  angry  with 
those  who  would  dissuade  the  two  great  members  of  the  Race 
of  Law  from  conspiring  in  their  mutual  jealousy  to  put  each 
other's  heads  under  the  feet  of  a  race  which  is  not  that  of 
law,  whatever  its  other  gifts  or  its  industrial  services  m-^y  be. 

It  will  be  found  that  the  subjects  are  treated  for  the  most 
part  historically,  or  on  general  principles,  and  that  the  politi- 
cal student  has  seldom  encroached  on  the  domain  of  the 
practical  statesman. 

It  has  been  found  convenient  to  make  "Utopian  Visions" 
an  essay  separate  from  "Social  and  Industrial   Revolution  " 

The  thanks  of  the  writer  are  once  more  tendered  to  the 
proprietors  and  editors  of  the  Mrtf.  American  Review,- the 
Forum,  the  mneteenth  Century,  and  the  mtional  Review,  for 
their  courtesy  in  permitting  him  to  draw  upon  articles  which 
appeared  in  their  periodicals,  as  well  as  for  the  privilege 
which  he  has  enjoyed  of  being  one  of  their  contributors. 
August,  1894. 


CONTENTS 


Preface 

■        •        •        . 

Social  and  Industrial  Revolution 
Utopian  Visions  .... 

TiiK  <2i;kstio\  of  Disestablishment 
The  Political  Crisis  in  England 
The  Empire         .... 
Woman  Sif^-rage 

•  •  • 

The  Jewish  Question 

TiiK  Irish  Question  .... 

Prohibition  in  Canada  and  the  United  States 


PACE 
V 

1 

45 
67 
9.9 
13f) 
197 
239 
283 
331 


APPENDIX. 
The  Oneida  Community  and  American  Socialism 


361 


xvu 


« 


SOCIAL  AND   INDUSTRIAL  REVOLUTION. 


QUESTIONS  OF  THE  ^^x/''""^^  '^'^' 


^<f  y  " 


SOCIAL  AND   INDUSTRIAL  REVOLUTION. 

ordeohne  of  the  religious  faitl.  whicl.  held  out  to  the  u„  ol: 
.ate  n>  th.s  ™.Id  the  hope  of  indemnity  in  a„o  her      "H 

in  fliaj.  1       4.         !  ^  ^*       ^°  multitudes  are  savins- 

py  p  ;uS;:d  "'.""t"^ "■" »°' >'^' '""^^'^  "^  - 

ma  ses  thi'k     ,„t  T "'"  ''f  """  '''  ^"""8''  *°  '"^"e  the 
they  re^    vlrf  if  """'^'';  '"  ""*"  *'"""  *''""<  ''''eply; 

"-competent  to  und«st",f  u       '"'.'".^"'■'T'  -'^'"<'  "'-y  are 
dressed  to  tl,„i,       *  ,,    .  sciutnnse  the  arguments  ad- 

sion  thnt  r        ,    "''  '''''"'''  "'■"  '■"'■"firf  l>y  the  impres- 

eitects,  m  the  absence  of  religion,  can  hardly  fail  to  be 


*  QUESTIONS  OF  TllK   DAY. 

J'  (-ounciy  IS  as  yet  small  (ionipared  with   tlmf  «f  fi 
population  at  lai-L'c      Of  iui,..f  ■        n    ,    .  ^^  ^^   *^'*^' 

meiits  siiruad    k«i„.,.|..?t,.  '^'""'-'•'"stlc  ideas  and  sent - 

mie,i  with  c,.avi„«  f„..  piJa:  t  jetpSr't  ';'';''-^'  '-^ 

ana  stinvd  to  env,  by  the  perpetual    "t'c^n    alth    ''f        "' 
a  potent  factor  in  tl,e  movement  -u,,!  it  I,  i  ■''  " 

ostentation  of  the  vnl^a^  ie    '.  1  '=  '"*""'"'  ^^  "'" 

much  as  the  revolutio  ni^  rt i  "''°  """'  ''«'"'"«.  "Imost  as 
Cass,  This  is  «::!  ma  L  e^r^;  irr  "'■  -\  """f  "■'» 
which  may  be  called  .Satanisn,,  a  se  k  '  ^.o  to"  '""'"""• 
but  to  dostroy,  and  to  destroy  .ot  o  My    x is    nl  1         f  '""'' 

"narr;::sftr:;d-::;:t:t;ri'vii:ir"^ 

islliiisiil 

with,  and  impelled  by  the  noliti..  1        .  "*'  ''"'*'' 

which  iills  thc'civilis^'  w::,dT  WW  Te'r^oE  •"'"""°" 
l.as  helped  to  excite  the  spirit'of  clan,  i™  It  "1";^" 
as  Utopianism  is  akin  to  science      \v..       .       ^  ■"'I'heie,  little 

The  amount  of  comfort,  aiti^nieriil'thTr''!,  f™' 
have  been  multiplied  at  the  same  ti iie  i       '"  ''™'« 

wage-earner  within  sight  of  new  object  of  dseli'.l'f  "'" 
lias  vastly  increased-  Imf  if «    u-f  ^  "^ '•it^^"e.     liennh-ence 

a  honndless  d.'bt      Vh  '      it  0^"'"'  "^  iustalment.  „, 

the  capitalist  does  not  s  c  f  '  „,tn  no;i"m:i'"  ^""'-^ 
the  labour  journal  to  abate.  ■nalevolenee  of 

No  man  with  a  brain  and  a  heart  ein  f.,n  t    i 
with  a  sense  Of  the  une.ua,  .:ZZ^  ':^TTt 

Willing  to  uy  u.v-  exnerimenf-.  w1,,-«i, i    , .        .  ' 


experiment  wliieh  may  hold  out  a 


I'eason- 


^  or  Socialists 
l»  that  of  tlu) 
I'l  in  (ft'imany 
;l»e  burden  of 
leas  and  senti- 
iiS'S,  wliicli  is 
tres,  lives  on 
it  disjmtes,  is 

tenij)tations, 
Ith.  Knvy  is 
lamed  by  the 
-"e,  almost  as 

a  dangerous 
al  revolution 

reconstruct, 
Jlitical  iusti- 
al,  domestic, 
Hit  countries 
m,  Intransi- 
,'  of  Anarch- 
ore  startling 
ii'it  of  all  is 
1"  less  allied 
3  revolution 
n  in  science 
pliere,  little 
eatly  risen. 
Mvill  briuj; 

brings  the 
lienoHoence 
talments  of 
iej  fov\ards 
Bvolence  of 

penetrated 

h  or  to  1)(! 

a  reason - 


V*, 


SOCIAL  AND   INIJUSTUIAL    KKVOLUTION.  « 

able  bope  of  putting  a.i  end  to  poverty.     Uy  the  success  of 
such  an  experiment,  the  happiness  of  tho  rich,  of  such    at 
east,  ot  tiM.m  us  an-  good  men,  would  be  iiuu-eas..,!  far  n.'ore 
than    h..ir  neh.'s  u-ould  b,>  diminished.     Hut  only  the  Nihilist 
would  desire  blimlly  to  plunge  society  into  ehaos.      It  is  plainlv 
beyond  our  power  to  alter  the  rnn.lamental  conditions  of  our 
l."ing       Ihere   are    im.iualities   greater   even    than  those  of 
wealth,  which  are  hxed  not  by  human  lawgivers,  but  by  nature, 
such   as   t  ose  of  health,    strength,    intellectual   power,  and 
le.-oth  ul  hte;   and  these  draw  other  inequalities  with  them 
Justice  IS  human.     Where  inequality  is  the  fiat,  not  of  nmn.' 
mt  of  a  power  above  man,  it  is  idle,  for  any  practical  purpose 
to  assa.    It  as  injustice.     The  difference  between  a  good  ani 
bad  workman    is,  partly  at   least,  the  act    ,f  nature"    yet  to 
give  the  same  wages  to  the  good  workman  and  the  bad    as 
Communists  propose,  while  it  might  be  just  from  some  su^er- 
human  point  of  view,   from  the   only  point   of  view  which 
Jnnnanity  can  practically  attain,  would  be  unjust 

The  universe  may  be  tending  to  perfection,  but  perfection 
has  not  yet  been  nor  is  its  general  law.     If  Schopenhauer 
had  saul  that  tins  was  the  worst  of  all  conceivable  worlds,  he 
would  plainly  have  been  wrong;   it  is  possible  to  conceive  a 
world  without  affection,  beauty,  or  hope.     But  when  he  I  id 
that  It  was  the  worst  of  all  possible  worlds,  that  is,  the  worst 
of  a    worhls  that  could  subsist  without  dissolution,  thoule 
might  still  be  wrong,  he  was   not  so  plainly  wron.      Look 
where  we  will  disorder,  destruction,  and  cruelty  are  stni^-dig 
with  order,  achievement,  and  beneficence.     Evolutionarrpro 
gress  Itself  has  gone  on  since  the  beginning  of  geologic  time 

_   ffei  ng.     Animals  hve  by  preying  on  other  animals,  inflict- 
ing pain  and  sometimes  torture  on  their  prey.     Tin    is  part 
of    he  constitution  of  the  world.     Can  a.Ivthing  be  Te       fke 
perfect  jus  ice  than  the   distribution  of   hit.  an^ngst  Hvi  .< 
reatures  of  every  kind  through  the  whole  scale?     The  hum' n 

of  which  some  may  be  caused  by  imprudence  or  vice,  bui 


QUKSTIOMS  01.'  THE   DAy. 

otl.ers  are  cause,!  by  move  aocideut.     The  .,...h,.,.    ,. 
■»an  .«  f"l'  ."■  evil  and  Jesfueti™    '^liZ      rf'^'T  °' 
wli.ch  .nan  lives  wears  ev"rvivl„.,.„  n  ^'"^  "'"''''I  '° 

The  weather  ripens  t^JZ^^^Z^.^L'T'^  T'"''- 
the  ship  and  sinks  it     An  eirfhl  '      "  '"'"^  "afts 

tl.ey  are  danc„,g  at  Par  s      ?,     r    "  '"«"'''  '^'^''<'"'  *h"« 

.>-s;  theshapeir„elfneh„trtltnf'"'"^'^^''"' >■«•■■ 
paradise,  are  mated  with  tl«  lo.tL       '"'"'=""'>'  "*  *''«  hird  of 

and  tiie  toad.  I.nnerfe  ion  n^  T'"""''  "^  *''"  1™*  ^J^" 
teleseope  ean  range  t  the  s^''"^?  "'"'''=  '^  ''"■  "«  '^ 
evidences  of  irregukr  tv    !  1  ?'"^"''  '"  ^'''"''''  "'«■«  are 

of  atn,osphere  ™V  "  Ed TLrt'  ''l  "f  "^  "  '"-'  "-<>'<• 
the  nniverse  beyonS,  i        i    e  'l"  ™'""'"«^' '""'  «^-  to 

of  a  star.     Yet  son,;  "f  ,  «-'t'>essed  the  destruction 

fame   is  perfcttTo;      ;X"T°     ;?"" 

perfection  we  are  debarred  ,1    ,       '•  ""  ''''J"y"'«"t  of  that 

o.'  by  the  selHslu  e  tf  "1"  i!^''';''"''"'"  ""''  '"""»''  '»- 
the  hrws  and  overthrow^!:  .'t'  ,1"';'"',^°  "'f  l-y  -l«'="i"8 
tining,  the  class,  we  may  ente     '""'"."' """'°''"' S""'"- 

Freneh  Revolution  wal  a  de      Hf     ?v  "  '""""  ''•■"■"'''^''-     The 
-.1  nuke  felicity  nn^r^ft  tpt  t':'  7' ""  """"'"  '<" 
of  which  Turgot,  had  he  been  alio  f  I   I""'       ""f'  "S-'eatpart 
might  have  quietly  removed     ^  H  ,      T^"'''"''  '''=*  '"^l'' 
of  criu,e  -K.  suiieL,g    illdtfc  d    t  ■"'°  '  "','  ""  "™'="'»''» 
of  commerce  and  iudustrv     n  n  ,     '"'  "  'li>^oi'Sanisatiou 

persons  by  misery     a   en  .'"f"        '"r"'^  of  a  million  „f 
despotisu,  and  ti.e  Nanotoi       „     *'"™  ,''''"'  '»  '^  """^'7 
a«  its  legacies  the  vol^l    '   r''"'  "f  '*  '"'^  '««  behind 
i-aves,  and  which  are  .      ^   X   "^  "'"'  "'''"''  ^"™'«  »'"' 
or  eruptions.     After  al      he  .  '"'  ".'""'S  "  "'i"'  earthquakes 

about  the  inequaiitie  of'  rr;: ':  .d ;:  V:'  ''"■■""  ^"■*-"' 

are  just  as  passionate  as  e v  A  '''*""«=tio"s  of  class 

convulse  the  social  o!ans-o.  ^'.'"'"'''  '"  '"""■''"'  "'"' 
it  is  beyond  onr  powef    tM!       '  '""  ''"»^"^'"'  '"  t™"^fonu 

Juty  and  interest  to  reu.ove  even"^  !'"',"■"''"  ''  "'"  '''■^^  "'"■ 
removed,  and  level  every  ,Z,1^  '"J"""™  *'""  «"'  ^'■ 

o.-  being  levelled.  i    i^  t^r:.',;!"",'""'^  """ '-"P^^e 


It  limits    ff    .      :  '»-'"^.v '■'lai  IS  eapab  e 
ft  l.m.ts  ertort  only  by  ,,gnlating  hope. 


character  of 
'le  world  in 
tful  aspect, 
wind  wafts 
sbon,  while 
t  with  ugli- 
the  bird  of 
pufP  adder 
far  as  the 

there  are 
)on  devoid 
lid  even  to 
estruetion 
the  social    , 
t   of  tlut 
>lis]i  hiws 
I'epealing 
it,  guillo- 
se.     The 
unian  lot 
■I'eat  part 
his  task, 
t'alanclie 
nisation 
illion  of 
military 

beliind 
pe  still 
iquakes 
artisan 
•f  class 
Lte  and 
usforni 
3SS  our 
can  be 
apable 

hope. 


SOCIAL  AND   INDUSTRIAL   REVOLUTION.  7 

It  bids  us  look  for  iuiprovenu-nt,  not  for  regeneration    und 
prefer  gradual  reform  to  violent  revolution. 

and  elt^'"  t1  ""^'f  I  ^"^"'^'  ""^^  ^'^"^^^  ^  ^^^^^acter 
and  extent,      those  which  here  will  be  briefly  passed  in  review 

are  Comnunusn.    Socialism,  Nationalisation ^o    Land    8  nkes 
plans  tor  emancipating  Labour  ii-om  tlie  dominion  of  c!  Ua  ' 
and  theories  ol  innovation  with  regard  to  Currency  and       ik  ' 
the  most  prominent  of  which  is  Greenbackism,  or  the  L   e  Tn 
paper  money.     This  seems  a  motley  gi-oup,  bu't  it  will  b   1 
en  examination,  tliat  there  runs  throu-^h  the  whol,    /i 
hope  of  bettering  the  condition  of  the   nasses  w       L  "  "'"" 
of  industiy,  or  of  the  substantial  e^::::::^^^'^ 
without  limiting  the  multiplication  of  their  number       m'    1 
several  of  the  plans  there  runs  a  tendency    o      -oleic     S 

w   heir  adherents  from  minds  of  the  same  speculat L    la 

:;^:"ri  orr  ::r:  ^^^ 

;t  "-t  be  added,  for  his  addiction  ^r^d::^!;""?^!:::^^ 
-u«,^ve  are  told  lie  was,  ''susceptible,  Jitb  a  genuine ^^t 
o    tlie  poor  man's  ease  and  a  genuine  enthusiasm  for  so  ill 
•eform;  a  warm  friend,  a  vindictive  enemv   fnl  1 

both  of  the  nobler  and  more  vuh.tr    v  h    ])^,.       "h  ""' 

^-ate  vanity  and  given  to  pni^'::^:;'-;  7^^^ 
.-rous  dualities  and  churlisl/tl.ove  ani  ^v  id  wt^ 
and  governed  or  misgoverned  a  will  fn  ..^  ■  1  ^J '''iil^S 

a>..-t a „ece.a,.y ana ..ti™:.:  ,•"'''; ;'!;,';r';;™ 7'^ 

^  See  CoiUcmpumn/  Sucia/ism,  hy  .l.jhu  ]{ 


iV, 


I'age  65. 


8 


QL'KSTIONS   UK   'J'HE   DAY. 


f 'm";  '"'"'''  '™*'""'  --■"«  •■'  l.a„aso,ne  annuity 

for  ti.e  .,itato,..    Lf"   ::;";'r'*T'M"""  ■"*'-• 

fairly  .listnbute.1  as  iJil  e     till, ',  r     ^""  T'"'  '="  *^ 

altogetl,..  the   institut,:     o  ,o        "Thr      1  ''™^-* 

proposal  is  that  property  is  ,    f  .■  ''"'''^  '"  "'"* 

element  of  h„n,an'natne'  A  te  cVh!  ;'""°"  ^.^  "^^-^ 
would  not  think  that  whnf  I  ^ ,  ,  ""'  '"  "'"«''  a  man 
own,  is  unknown  oe™  ;:;  ,",""'"  '"'  '""'-'f  was  his 
conceptions.  T  no",k  ma  "  n "'  '^°"''  ""  ™'t-  «'  <>- 
of  ins  own  lunuls/ll  1?^^  17''"  •'"  '^""  '"  "'"  ^™"'' 
a  sacrifice.     Eug  ne  Sue    vte,  ,  "  ""  """''Sation  and 

property  is  theft  am™  i,:  ;  ,  "„::'  "/if  "^  f^,'"^'  «.at 
rightful  cxiste,,,.,.  of  pronc'rtv  2ll  \  f,™"'  ""'^''  *''^ 
as  a  literary  nuu,  he  «■.„'  '"S'''>' P™l'aWe  that 

wMch  is  p.' p<:;;"- ;■:'  z:r:r''  Th:'=-"  '"™''^'"«"'' 

lie  property/  used  bv  ^cUmnT     T'  """"'^  l'^'''^^^^  'pub- 

ti-™  i'  p-pert;L^;;i;ri,:f -::  -^;;''.  ";•/."'-  "■"' 

ease  but  the  ma  joritv  f'.l'u.  ,.  i      i  *  '^  l'"^''«  "^  t^^'s 

to  appropriate  '^^  tol^.!^  rtl^^f  ^^^'"  ^^^^  "^^"^^^^ 
land  was  not  individual  but  tr  b.  i/  ^  "-ff  ^''"^^'^'^^  "' 
tan,  wliile  in  Kns.ia  and       ,.      f '       •'  ''  "^'^^  '''  Afgbanis- 

Still  .t  is  p.ope..t,;  .iu::j;  ;^;  :,:r^f  ^;f -^tors. 

or  of  a  village  conununity,  llnsshn  o      r       '''\^f''^'''  *"l^^'' 
iHinuinitj^  and  you  n-ill  t  t    TT  '^'^"'  ^'^  ^^'^  "^^"^^  of 

sqnatte/'on  tiri    l  of   arFrVn^*"'*"'^^^  ^  ''  y^-  1-d 
I'untin.-gronnds  a        ,  In  ^  '^'^^^■'-     ^^   I^^'^'^^tive 

even  the^e  w;::;d";l.rC^£:Cd';- ^^  ^^^^ite;  ^^^ 

Property  in  elothes,  utens  1  ,1,^  '  musfal      '  ^"^'  ^^''^^■ 

individiK.I.      Declare   tI,of  '  ''^'''^•>^'   ''=^^'«  ^een 

l^eclaie   that   everything   belongs    to    the   com- 


ome  annuity 

may  he  said 
Piiyiiig  little 
Klispensable 
tie  material 
neans  be  as 
by  distribu- 

fco  abrogate 
3ly  to  tliat 
3ut  a  fixed 
^lieh  a  man 
ulf  was  his 
'ige  of  our 
I  the  work 
gation  and 
lying  that 
theft,  the 
bable  that 
'opyright, 
•■ase  *pub- 
i>lies  that 
!ic  in  this 
minority 
jperty  in 
U'gliani.s- 
le  village 
tivators. 
an  tribe, 
name  of 
you  had 
I'iniitive 
ite;  yet 
il  tribe, 
ve  been 
^e   com- 


■■>}. 


SOCIAL   AM)    IM\  STRIAL   REVOLUTION.  9 

nmnity,  still  government  must  allot  each  citizen  his  rations; 
as  soon  as  he  receives  them  the  rations  will  be  his  own,  and  if 
another  tries  to  take  them  he  will  resist,  and  by  his  resistance 
affirm  the  principle  of  individual  property. 

Religious  societies,  in  the  fervour  of  their  youth,  have  for 
a  siiort  time  sought  to  seal  the  brotherhood  of  their  members 
by  instituting  within  their  own  circle  a  community  of  goods. 
The  primitive  Christians  did  this,  but  they  never  thought  of 
abolishing  property  or  proclaiming  the  communistic  principle 
to  society  at  large.     Paul  distinctly  ratifies  the  principle  of 
property,  "  Let  him  that  stole  steal  no  more;  but  rather  labour, 
working  with  his  hands  the  thing  which  is  good,  that  he  may 
have  to  give  to  him  that  needeth."    "  While  the  land  remained," 
says  Peter  to  Ananias,  "did  it  not  remain  thine  own;  and  after 
it  was  sold  was  it  not  in  thy  power?  "    Christian  communism, 
so-called,  was  in  fact  merely  a  benefit  fund  or  club;   it  was 
also  short-lived;  as  was  the  communism  of  the  Monastic  orders, 
which  soon  gave  way  to  individual  proprietorship  on  no  ordi- 
nary scale  in  the  persons  of  the  abbots. 

^  Associations,  called  Communistic,  have  been  founded  in  the 
United  States.     But  these  have  been  nothing  more  than  com- 
mon homes  for  a  small  number  of  people,  living  together  as 
one  household  on  a  joint-stock  fund.     Their  relatio^ns  to  the 
community  at   large  have  been  of  the  ordinary  commercial 
kind.     The   Oneida  Community  owned  works  carried  on  by 
hired  labour,  and  dealt  with  the  outside  world  like  any  other 
manufacturer;  nor  did  it  make  any  attempt  to  propagate  com- 
munistic opinions.     A  religious  dictatorship  seems  essential  to 
the  unity  and  peace  of  these  households;  but  where  they  have 
prospered  economically,  the  secret  of  their  success  has  been 
the  absence  of  children,  which   limited   their  expenses  and 
enabled  them  to  save  money.     Growing  wealthy,  they  have 
ceased  to  proselytise,  and,  if  celibacy  was  kept  up,  have  be- 
come tontines.     They  afi'ord  no  proof  whatever  of  the  practica- 
bility of  Communism  as  a  universal  system. * 

What  is  the  foundation  of  property?     We  do  not  here  seek 

^  Suu  Appeiulix. 


10 


QUi^STIONS   «,F   T„K    j.^^y 


ti.at  .t  is  the  only  k„„,™  ^ZvetjTT'^.  '"""""«<"'  '» 
-y  l.as  its  whi,,;  but,  savi,  J  t  ,s  "^'"^''"«""-     S'^v- 

I.'l-our  other  tl,a„  m-oj,.^  ,""    .'  "'  ""  ««'eral   incentive  to 
"■'"''  "-t  they  ca'u  Xo'To^T  """^'^'^-     Cu..n..unis 
l'«nt  to  the  cose  of  the  soldL,.  1''";,"°"""""''^.  -nl  they 
vol,,„ta,-,Iy  ,Vo.„  ,  sense  ofZ^t     "^  '"^  ''"''''  '"»  ■l^ 
tl>^^t,  so  fa,,   from  bein..   voiu  t       ^     '""""■'     "  '»  ''epHed 
^"•il-ecl  hy  a  code  of  exce  ttt^'  "  '""''^''^  ""'^  ^^  P'- 
alt.ea  of  the  sternest  Icind  '        "'  "'™"'^'  ™'-«^1  by  p'en- 

ihat  the  family  and  all  it^  nfl!    4- 
-th  property  i/eviden  /    ,dt  '""V,™  «'-«>y  bound  up 

««ek.ng  to  destroy  proper*;  ad  ut  f -u    ' ,    f  "  ''""^'»"^'"  " 
Tracing  property  to  it,  L  "'^  together. 

^-^  «e.,eral  Juli,  no't  '' .""t  .X-'b::  t'  f  '-  ^'^  o-'^in,  as 
'■■".cl  or  of  the  brain,  and  in  .e  fl  ,  .jt™''  "''''^'-  "'  «- 
of  labour  have  been  saved.  I,,  I '  "  -^  ''^,  "'™''  "«  fruits 
J"'-  been  inherited,  we  n,ay  ha  e  to  ,  ■  "'■"""'^  ''""•^^'' 
■■fa»b  this  fact,  but  we  eo.ue  or,  r**'"  ^"*  S''"«'atious  to 
'bo  labour  has  been  ho4s     I  '''"'  '■"  ''^^t-     Wherever 

'I'-e,  and  the  wealth    f  o  Lf;  h"  ""^  "^  ^'"''^  ''-  bee" 
-orker,  has  been  increas  d'^rt     "^^ '  ~''^"  ^^ 'bat  of  the 
bas,  of  course,  been  acquired  bvlt/'     '''""«'  i^'^l^rty 
speculation,  or  unrighteo  s  „,„!,         """'''  ^'"'''  ^^^  gau,  .liu,, 
f  i«guish  this  fronle^esr '';•'■""'  "  "'^  ™"'''  ""b 
-e  is  nothing  saored  i     ^   V  u  ^u't'  f''^""  '"  ^"^'^  •»'■ 
■b.oh  It  has  been  acquired.     Ztl  T      ''™"  ""=  '""''e  in 
'■oa.  the  wheat;  Jiscriu.ination  iV    „ 'r,?""°' ^^  ««l'a'ated 
•io  ..  to  ,Iiscourage  as  un.ch  as   nav        ,    .     '  ""  """  "■"  -"■ 
'"»  and  refuse  to  pay  hon>a,    to  !^.l,    u    '"°'^"'  "'  ^''^'is- 
ary  wealth,  owned  by  tl,ose°w ho  , ,'     h  '  "'"""'«''•     "«•«"" 
'"■•  't,  strikes  us  as  injustLe    "f  '"""'^'^■'^^  "ot  worked 

tbe  beir,  who  sinks  int ':;,,;. '!"  ''  '^.  "-  -""->  ruin  „f 
^--^cessive  acenuudatiou  i  ,  ,",'', '^''^""'■-  ''''^  P''eveut  its 
;;'  '-t  such  has  been  Z  '  X.^rfT'  ■?  ''"■«''"'  -^ 
'"be,,tanee  is  not  bound  up  wi  1     '1     ,"■"•■"'""  "■''"'■'^''"■' 

P  poht.cal  institutions  such  as 


Jndation,  but 
'oundution  is 
-tion.     Slav- 
incentive  to 
Communists 
'J*  and  tliey 
'es  Jiis  duty 
t  is  replied 
uty  is  pi-e- 
etl  by  pen- 

'  bound  up 
nsistent  in 

'  oi'igin,  as 
ier  of  the 
tile  fruits 
I'ty  wiiieJi 
I'ations  to 
Wherever 
iias  been 
lat  of  the 
pi'operty 
;i'ambling 
wld  only 
just;  for 
mode  in 
apai'ated 
^  we  cuu 
acquisi- 
Heredi- 
worked 
mill  of 
■'ent  its 
er,  and 
lerever 
uch  as 


SOCIAL   AND    INDUSTRIAL    HKVOLUTION.  n 

the  House  of  Lords       Muf  ff»  ..i.-^r  i    •   t 

the  a„e.io„.  M„,ue j:r:::i  ti:  rr:^^^^^^^^^  -^ 

Ind  ii,  mail  tn  bequeath  his  woaltli    hn  will  !  '  °'" 

HfeUnio,  ,.ath„|.lan  leave  Itt  be  eoT  S  T"  "l  '"'^ 
(hiccmont  to  savin"  will  thii>,  1,.  l„  ^  '-°""'"'.*f«l-     A  great  in- 

wouhl  be  the  means  o  1  I"  d  t'T  l'"'""""  '"""*''  "''"" 
the  econoinieal  woHU  Xr.  "J^'"  ^r^  'i'"'  ™"'" 
wealth  in  i,lIo  hands  is  to  be  deplore,       ZT    ■      '""''^''"^'y 

that  this  is  eeonomieally  as  vel  a  nlivriVn  '■''""""' 
world.     After  all,  in  au  Lin,  H     .,"'  '"''^•""'''"^  ■'"'  ""perfect 

like  the  United  Stat™  ^^^^:^"r'^  ™""""""y 
herited  wealth  mnst  be^r  a  sn^l  pi  . If :;;;;'"'"''  '"  "- 
Xl:-"  .erviee  renaered%^  t'l^^.l^rh;:: 

brows.     But  tliis  is  folf-   ;„  u,    •  ^  ^*^'^^'  '"en's 

uiis  IS  lelt,  111  an  increasinj?  de<n-ee  bv  fl.n  K^ff^ 
natures;  private  fortunes  are  morp  l.ni  i       i       !'  ^  ''*^*^^'" 

claims  of  the  commun itv-T        .  '^'^^""^  *°  ^^^^  "^^^'^l 

making  wa;^^ I^fv'  '''^""^'"^^r^'^  communism  is  thus 

Unitecfstat';      cCi  Hlttulir''     T""""  "^"  "^^^^  '^  *^« 
ail  sides.     In  the  Sd  s;^      ^enevo  ent  institutions  rise  on 

In  wealthy  communities  the  destitu  e  a'e   re,    ""  "^H 
savage  state  they  die.  leiieved;  m  the 


1'^ 


.(> 


IJI'KSriDNS    OK    lili.;    |,,yy 


•M.ul,„         Ul,n,     ,s  a,.  .S(,„,l,„y     |.,,,|,|„  ,   ,„         'J       ' 

'"•":  -  -....    h.n,  „„|,„i,|„  ,„„,  ,,,„„„  ,,,„.  ,„„,„|„„.^  ; 

''•'  ""•  '"" I  •■'I'M iMu.Ml,  ,„■  ,. ti„„.     „.|,,,|,   J,         .        '■ 

Kov,.,.,,,,,™,.  win.l,  ,S,„.ia:is,„  w,m,I,I  „,,,  „,,,  ,.,„|' ,,,  ,;,,.,,;'; 

•^"■''-■;i-"  iM.s,.  wi,i,,i,  ,1,0  hi,,,.,,. „„ii,,i,,,, „,„,,„„  I,,  '1;^ 

'■"■'.",",'  ,"" ■'■^''"•'     ■'''"»   i-^  I'l-  "™t  question  whid,  1 

;;;;::; ;!;•,  ;"'^" '"-» "■ «^..  -  i..,.,,,,,.. i'2i 

,11..      U  I,;,,,  ,I,H,  l„.  |„.„|,„,,„  ,„,  i„„n|„t„  i„  „,,,.,.  ,.^, 
.J  uhal.  |,n„vss.  ,.l,.o,,,v,MM-„f  ;„,.,.  „l,l„.,.  ki,„|,  i.,  j,, ,. 

"','";"; ■•  «'i"- Willi,., ,:„,, ,.,,„ ,,„„„„  ,,t„, ,', ; ; 

'■""■'•Pl'l'l.'.  «-l«.s.,  ..«-.rd  shall  |„.   „„a„i„„„„|,,  ,„,,,„„   '.", 
.-luMu,,.  ,,,,  a  1  ,.xis,:i„,,„:„.a„,.,.,.s  ,W  i,„l„st,.ial'i„sti,',lv    tC 

••"'"■  .-"l;  or  his  l,roH„.,.V     I  f  h,.  w„„M,  i.s  i,;  .,L,oiv  1 1,:     at 

■"    "■  -™l'l  '"■  M-  I".-  s..,.,.,.,„..  ,.„I,.'.    Th..  ,i„ostio„,   \Vh 
s  ,  ,,.  K,n.,.n,„,,.„t   ,,„  ,„,   „„„„    „„„,  ,,,„,,,„,,,  i^^,„j 

■    .  M  a,„l  ,,,.,„a„.ls  a„  aasw,.,-.     To  .wpt  a„  „„li,„itcd 

■  ";1  most  s,.a,vl„„K  ,|,,|,ot,s,„  ,viH,out  hoowins  to  wh„s,.  ha„ds 
.«  ..s  to  ho  ,.„t,.„s„.,l  wouhl  ovi,|,.,„Iy  1„.  ,„a,,l„oss.     ,;,„.i„„    y 

onoush,  l,.o,„   ,„.a,.Ij.   tho  ,sa,a,.  ,,„a,.t..,.   In.,,,   whi.-l,  conos 

N  .Ma  .s,„   w,th  „s  .,,.„,a„.l  .„,■  pat..n,al  ,..v..,.„,„o„t.  ..o,„o 

so  A„a,...h,s,„,  ,l..,„a„.li„.  that  then,  shall  l,o  „„  Rov.M.,„„o„t 

■',     J''.'','""-  '"'"-ever.  a,-.,  alli.vl;  A„i,...his,„  is  th.-  f„a,„ 

on  tho  Nv,al,s, ,.■  .avo.      H  is  i,ll,.  to  lo,-,n  tl.corios,  whoZ' 


1 


l'''.V  l>.y  "Mio 

(>r  ilid  coni- 

•lutioN  jiml 

lo  persons, 

•  yoii  Icavn 

)V(MMmi(Mlt, 

i)nstil,iil,i()ii 
«i(l  into  it 
Ik'ii,  is  tlid 
>  which  it 
vvhicli  ;i,ny 
infinitely 
a  Ii;is  (!V('r 
which   the 
1  oxistinjjf 
'otcnt  iind 
I'ooni,  an<l 
1(1  (ihanj^c 
ial  ont  of 
hi  and  in- 

'l'|)tl'(l    us 

ce?     The 
yrnnnical 
Iho  auto- 
ahhi  that 
iHilianical 
11,  AVha.t 
f   on  tlio 
iuliniitod 
so  hands 
'uriously 
li   coinos 
t,  comes 
onnnont 
ihe  foain 
wliother 


SOCIAI,    AM)    INDIISTKiAI-    UKVOMJTION.  13 

<'<'<'iH.iiii.Ml,.r  soeiaJ.  without  considerinfr  |,I„.  .,,,,,,,,,,  ,.j,.,.„,,,. 
stances  uiuhM-  which  they  ;,,v  to  he  applied,  and  the  n.eans 
and  possd.ilit.es  ol  rnwyin^  tlieni  into  effect.  This  is  the 
innrest  truisin,  yet  it  is  ono  which,  «o  far  as  we  know^  Social- 
isni  disrej^ards. 

I).-spoti.-.  a,  government  must  ],r,  in  ordcu-  to  secure  suhmis- 
s.ont<,.tsassi^Mnnentof  industrial  parts  and  to  its  award  of 
waK.^s   especially  if  the  waj^es  are  to  he  measured,  not  hy  the 
=;"'""nt  ,>r  .p.ality  of  the  work,  but  hy  son.e   higher  law  of 
doscrt  or  henevolcnce.      Despotic  it  nuist  he  to  enahle  it  to 
compe    uidoleuco  to  work  a,t  all.      Its  power,  practically,  must 
"'  n.uh.  to  <.xt.md  hoyond  the  sphere  of  industry  to    o.-i-.l 
doniesti,.,  and  nulivi.lual  life.     Uesista.u.^  to  its  dc.n-ees  ecu  1 
'">'■  Y  l-^-"';";-'.  nor  c(,u]d  it  he  deposed  in  ca,s<.  of  tyranny 

ZfT:  ''''7'''  '"  '^'"^'•*"  --^'l  '-  =<t  an  end,  a,,ul  it  is 
.Idhcult  to  see  how  progn-ss  could  survive  liberty  The  in 
v.mtor  of  each  Utopia  assumes  the  linality  of  his  system  He 
akes  ,t  for  granted  that  time,  having  now  prod.uie.l  its  per- 
l.-o  nnt,  w,l  bear  no  mo.-e.  Hut  history  and  science  tell  us 
that  tune  is  likely  to  bear  u.mv  fruit  without  eml 

Ass.gn„.ent  of  manual  lal^our  and  payment  for  its  perform- 
ance by  a  paternal  gov..rnment  are  conceivable,  tluLh  n  t 
practically  feasible.  Hut  how  could  men  be  told  o7t  - 
tolUvtual  labour,  for  scieutitic  research,  for  invention'/  Could 
^.0  Nocmlistm  rider  pick  out  a  Shakespeare,  a  Newton,  o 

alout  It       \Vhat  security  would  there  be  against  a  lapse  into 
nUdlectu^U  barbarism.     Socialistic  writei^as  a  rule,^^  a' 

th  >    take    no   comprehensive    view   of   civilisation.      Is   no 
Socialism  a  nuuiual  labourer's  dream?     Of  the  artisans  whom 
t lese  theories  flatter,  all  whose  trados  minister  to  literal 

uitliout  uoik.     Might  not  science  itself  cease  to  advance'?     If 

z::i;r '" '" ""™""'-"'  ^'"^'  ™"'"  '^-™>*' »' "-™  p-  ll 

Let  tho  Socialist  survey  tl,o  whole  fra.no  of  ,natori;,l  civili- 


14 


'JIKSTIONS   OK   TIIK    DAV. 


a.-itiOTi,  with  all  its  in;u-liiii,.iy  ,,(•  pnxluctioM  and  (li.strihution, 
iiiui  ask  himself  whctlKn-  all  this  could  hr  prod.u-cd  hy  tho 
action  of  govornnicnts  or  l,y  anythin-  hut  individual  effort, 
competition,  and  invention,  with  the  aid  of  spontaneous  asso- 
ciation. Aeeordin-  to  him,  economical  history  has  been  ono 
vast  aberration.  In  wha,t  course  and  under  what  guidance 
ought  it  to  liav(^  run'/ 

Some  Socdalists  pr()i)ose  to  cut  uj)  tlu!  industrial  and  com- 
mercial world  into  phalansteries,  or  sections  of  some  kind,  for 
the  i)urposes  of  their  organisation.  Hut  industry  and  com- 
merce are  networks  covering  tlu^  whole  globe.  To  what 
phalanstery  would  the  sailors,  the  railway  men,  and  the 
traders  between  differtMit  countries  be  assigued'i* 

Take  any  comj.lex  ])rodmit  of  human  labour,  say,  a  piece  of 
cotton  goods  worth  a  penny.  Let  th(>  Socialist  trace  out,  as 
far  as  thought  will  go,  the  industri(>s  which,  in  various  ways, 
and  m  different  parts  of  the  world,  have  contributed  to  the 
production,  imduding  the  making  of  machinery,  shipbuilding, 
and  all  tho  emi)loyments  and  branches  of  trade  ancillary  to 
these;  \ot  him  consid(>r  how,  by  the  operation  of  economic 
law,  und(>r  the  system  of  industrial  liberty,  the  single  i)enny 
is  distributed  among  all  these  industries  justly,  "even  to  the 
estimation  of  a  hair,"  and  then  let  him  ask  himself  whether 
his  government,  or  his  group  of  governments,  is  likely  to  do 
better  than  nature. 

Socialists  claim  the  Factory  laws  as  a  recognition  of  their 
l)rimuple  and  as  opening  the  door  of  iiulustrial  revolution. 
But  it  is  ditticult  to  see  why  the  enforcement  of  sanitary  regu- 
lations or  safeguards  for  life  and  limb  is  more  socialistic  in 
the  case  of  a  factory  than  in  the  case  of  a  city,  or  why  the 
protection  of  women  and  children  who  cannot  protect  them- 
selves against  industrial  cruelty  and  abuse  is  more  socialistic 
than  the  protection  of  them  against  wife-beating  or  infanti- 
cide.    How  far  legislation  shall  go  in  this  direction  must  be 
determined  not  by  any  theory,  socialistic  or  anti-socialistic, 
but  by  the  character  and  circumstances  of  the  particular  com- 
munity.    In  some  comnmnities  strict  legislation  will  be  re- 


SOCIAL    AND   INDIISTUIAL    liKVOMITlON. 


16 


quimi  in  .•:us,.s  svhwr.  i,,  ulhvvs  in.livi.luiil  iiil,(.|Ii^r,.„n,  itn.l 
iii.livKl.uil  sens.*  <.r  ,l„l,y  will  siilli,.,,.  Tl.<-,s.,  (lirfVr,.Mc,.,s  l,,- 
twr....  ,MM,naui,i(,i<.,s  i„  <liriVn..,l,  s(.,.v,s  ,.r  ,k.v.,l<,,,.M,.,t  ,so(,iul- 
-st.c  luxury  ,lis,c.KHnls.  Ill.vul.s  hun.u.ily  us  a  unilon..  .n.l 
N-vc;l  ..Id.  llKtt  tlu,  Kuaory  A<a,s  have  ..,.t  in,lu,...|  any 
nuhcal  d.anKH,  in  tl.u  in.lnst.ial  .systoin  Ihe  coinplaints  ol' 
LIu!  Nocialisis  tlioniscilvcs  arci  prool'. 

Ownership  „r  puhlic  ,.,stal.lisl.m,Mils  an.l  s(,rvi<,..s,  .-...lin    is 
a  qurslM.n   n,part,  (Iclincul   by  the   niHu^s.sities  ,.r  j^cvennncnt 
H.i.l  n.volves  n.>thin.^^  socialisti..     (iove.nn.cnt  obviously  ninst 
own  (.veryfchinj.-  necessary  to  pubHe  onh-r  or  nath,nal  .hdence- 
It  must  own  the   postal  service,  to   whiel.    its   i-roteetion    is 
plainly  necessary,  and  t.,  the  postal  servi.u;  the  t.de.r,,,,,|,i, 
scu-viee  may   be  reasonably  j„ine,|.     On   the  other   hami,  the 
National  workshops  at  I'aris  were  a  failure;  «,ven  tl...  (iovorn- 
>m-Mt   sh.p-yanls  in   Kn.^Man.I,  tho.igh  re..,hu-e,l  necessary  by 
the  exl^•enei..s  of  national  .lelence,  are  sai.l  to  be  condu.-,te.l 
i'ss   eeononncally  than    private   yards.      Australians   tell    us 
that  with  them  ^^overnment  ownership  of    railw:.,ys  answers 
Avoll.     There   is  no  reason  why   it  shouhl    not,  provi.hMl   the 
Sovornment  is  pure.     The  cost  of  eompetinj,^  lines  is  save.l 
and  1     the  stimulus  of  competitiv..  enterprise  is  withdrawn, 
that  of  administrative  emulation  iimy  take  its  phu;e      Coun- 
tries might  be  named  which,  if  the  gov.^'nment  owm.l   rail- 
ways as  well  as  subsidised  th.un,  would  be  plunged   into  cor- 
niptum.      In  all  government  establishm.mts  there  is  danger 

f;  ^'"    ■''^'•^  '"^'^  *^^'  lii^-iness,  torpor,  and  .somnolent 

routim 

^loro  tv  Mistic  is  the  assumption  by  the  State  of  the 

'luty  ot  po,  .  .r  education.  The  prevailing  opinion  is  that  it 
•s  he  manifest  duty  of  the  State  to  provide  schools  for  everv- 
KHly  s  children  out  of  the  public  taxes.  It  might  be  thought 
that  nothing  was  more  manifest  than  the  duty  of  every  man 
to  provide  education  as  well  as  food  and  clothes  for  his  own 
children,  since  it  is  by  his  act  that  they  come  into  the  world- 
or  less  manifest  than  the  duty  of  the  prudent  man  who  defers 
"^^"•lage  till  he  has  the  means  of  bringing  up  a  family,  to 


16 


QUKSriONM   «»F   THE   DAV. 


pi'ovi.lt'  as  -.1  Uix-\n\yvv  tor  tlu^  scliooling  of  tlio  children  of  Iiis 
li'ss  pni.lcul  iici-ia,ours.     Tlu!  wisdom  whicdi  sets  itself  above 
justice  ou-lit  to  1)0  very  high.     There  ur(,  some,  it  seems,  who 
would  not  only  educate  the  chihlren  of  the  poor  gratuitously 
that  IS,  out  of  the   public  taxes,  but  would  give  the   school 
cliildreii  nuvils  and  even  clothes  at  the  public  expense.     They 
(!aii  scanndy  doubt  that  of  such  a  system  of  almsgiving,  wido- 
«prea.l  |)au[)erism  would  be  thi^  fruit.     Their  policy  points  to 
a  renewal  of  the  Koman  proletariat  living  on  the  alms  of  the 
State,    \y\nm  the  (hity  of  education  is  undertaken  by  govern- 
uient,  parental  duty  in  this  respect,  and  whatever  goes  with 
It  of  family  character,  must  exi)ire.     Let  those  who  think  that 
the  intellectual  fruits  of  the  State  machine  substituted  for 
voluntary  agencies  are  entirely  satisfactory,   read  the  series 
ol  pjipers  m  the  New  York  /'«mm,»  giving  an  account  of  a 
tour  of  inspection  among  the  public  schools  of  the  United 
States.     Formation  of  character  and  manners  the  system  hardly 
professes.     If  it  did,  the  manners  would  too  often  belie  the 
claim.     Jt  lacks  motive  power  in   that   line.     The   original 
New  England  school  was  tin;  school  of  a  small  group  of  fami- 
lies carried  on  under  the  eyes  of  the  parents,  not  unparental, 
therefore,  and  it  was  intensely  religious.     These  conditions 
are  changed.     Politics,  too,  and  ward-demagogism  are  apt  to 
lay  their  hands  on  the  election   of   school  trustees.      High- 
schools  are  accused  of  helj)ing  to  set  the  farmer's  sons  and 
daughters  above  farm  work,  and  to  scmd  them,  for  what  they 
think  higher  employment,  to  the  already  over-crowded  cities. 
If  this  or  any  other  mischief  is  being  done,  there  is  no  remedy. 
You  cannot  stop  the  State  machine.     What  is  voluntary,  when 
it  fails,  stops  of  itself.     What  is  voluntary  admits  of  adapta- 
tion to  various  needs,  of  free  experiment,  of  emulation;  the 
machine  does  not.     However,  State  education  is  commended 
to  us  on  the  ground  of  political  necessity.     We  are  told  that 
we  must  educate  our  masters.     Popular  ignorance  with  popu- 
lar suffrage  would  be  fatal  to  tlie  community.     This  puts  State 
education  not  on  socialistic  grounds  but  on  that  of  political 

J  Vols.  IV.,  v.,  and  VI. 


i 


.SOCIAL    AND    INDHSTUIAL    UIOVOLUTION. 


17 


Irt'ii  of  Iiis 
tscll'  ubovo 
eems,  who 
ituitously 
;ho  s(!li()ol 
so.     Tliey 
in<;,  wide- 
points  to 
iiiis  ol'  tlio 
)y  Koverii- 
gocs  with 
think  that 
itiited  for 
the  series 
ount  of  a 
le  United 
LMu  hardly 
belie  tlie 
!   original 
)  of  fami- 
il)arentul, 
ionditions 
re  apt  to 
.      High- 
sons  and 
i^liat  they 
ed  cities. 
>  remedy, 
iry,  when 
f  adapta- 
tion; the 
nmended 
told  that 
th  poi^u- 
uts  State 
political 


necessity,  and  neciossity,  whcithiu'  politi(!al,  military,  or  sani- 
tary, must  he  sui.reme.  The  worst  of  it  is  that  unhjss  tlie 
truaucy  laws  are  more  strictly  enforcuid  than  is  usually  possi- 
hl(!  in  a  democracy,  the  dangerous  classes  are  not  in  school. 

Circulating  libraries,  maintaini'<l  at  tlu!  expense  of  the  rate- 
payer, may  fairly  rank  as  so(tiaIisti(!,  since  peopN,  havt^  no  nujre 
right  to  novels  than  to  theatre-ticiktits  out  of  the  public  taxes. 
So  may  pensions  for  the  aged,  now  i.roposed  in  England,  the 
effect    )f  which   wouhl   probably    be   the   discouragement   of 
frugality,  while  the  burden  on  the  tax-paying  community  would 
be  eiu)rmous  wIumi  tlie  pension  agent  got  to  work.     Maniftsstly 
socialistic  again  is  the  Kight  Hours'  JJill,  [)assed  by  the  IIous(! 
of  Commons,  which  interferes  with  the  adult  labourer's  dis- 
posal of  his  own  labour  and  with  freedom  of  contraiit  between 
him  and  his  employer.     The  effect  of  such  a  measure  must  Ik; 
to  throw  out  of  work  those  who  cannot  do  in  eight  hours  the 
work  of  ten,  that  is,  the  weaker  labourers;  unless  a  clause  is 
inserted  compelling  the  mine-owner  to  employ  men  at  a  loss. 
In  the  public  establishments  government  can,  of  course,  pay 
what   wages    it    thinks    fit,  since    it    draws   them   from'  the 
public  funds. 

Differentiation  marks  advance,  and  a  centralisation  which 
sliould  reduce  all  functions  to  those  of  a  single  organ  would 
be  not  an  advance  but  a  degradation  in  the  political  as  in  the 
animal  world. 

A  special  form  of  Socialism  is  Nationalisation  of  Land. 
This  has  received  an  impulse  from  recent  legislation  for 
Ireland.  Not  that  the  Irish  tenant  farmer  is  an  agrarian 
socialist,  or  a  socialist  of  any  kind;  what  he  wants  is  to  oust 
the  landlord  and  have  the  farm  to  himself;  if  you  demand,  as 
a  member  of  the  community,  a  share  of  his  land,  he  will  give 
you  SIX  feet  of  it.  He  exacts  a  heavy  rent  for  a  little  croft 
from  the  farm  labourer  in  his  employment.  The  sirens  of 
Nationalisation  have  sung  to  him  in  vain.  Nor  did  the  f  ramers 
ot  the  Land  Acts  profess  to  abrogate  or  assail  private  property 
in  land;  tlicy  professed  only  to  adjust  by  legislation  a  dispute 


IH 


(iniSTloNS  oi'    rill.;    DAV. 


hfiwccii  lAvo  cliisscs  (.r  j.i(.|M"il,y-Iio|.|.M-s  which  thmitniuMl  tho 
iK'M'v  (»r  IIk!  SLuLc.  1!uI>  th(!  ii:il,iir;il  ci.ii,s('<|ii(.|i(.(.,s  h;iv(-,  hccn 
a  f,'(MUM'iil  distiirljuiKM'  of  ulniH,  uiid  uii  iMcrciisc  of  hope  iuul 
activity  nuum^  the  aiMt.sth's  of  a^'rariaii  ri-vohition. 

Theses   tlirurisLs   hold  tlmt  piiviitc   property   in   hiiid   is  "a 
h(d:l,   hasf,  uiionnous  wroiij,',   likt(    th;it   of  chattel  shivery." 
Mr.    Il.irhert  Spencer    hiid   Miiid,   "lliul    we    to   (h-:i,l    with    the 
parties  wii(.ori,L,Mn;illy  rohhed  the  huniiin  race  of  its  herita},'e, 
we  niij,dit  niaiu!  short  work  of  the   matter."     To  which  the 
Nationalist  replies:  "  Why  not  nuike  short  work  ol'  the  nutter 
aiiyliow?     l''or  this  roi)l)ery  is  not  like  the  rohluM-y  of  ;i  horse 
or  a  snni  of  money,  that  ceases  with  tli(!  act.      It  is  it  fresh  and 
contiimons  robbery  that  k<'1'S  on  every  day  and  every  hour." 
It   is   proposed   to   forfeit,  either  opciiily,  or   nnih-r  the  thin 
<lisi-iiis(i  of  ;i  ns(^  of  the  ta.\in,i,'  power,  (ivery  man's  Imdiohl, 
even  the  farm  which   the  acttU'v   has  just   reclainu'd  by  the 
sveat  of  his  own  brow  IVom  the  wilderness;  ;ind  it  is  emphati- 
cally ad(h'd,  in  lan<rnagt!  which  sounds  like;  tho  exultation  of 
injustice,  that  no  compensation  is  dni^;  the  man  bein;^'  merely 
ejected  from  that  which  never  belon-jjed  to  him,  as  ii  wron^'ful 
possessor  is  ejected  by  ji  court  of  law.     That  tiie  St;it(^  lias, 
by  the  most  scdemii  and  repeated  guarantees,  ratified  privatt; 
pro[>rietorsliip  ;ind  umh-rtaken  to  protect  it,  matters  notliin,-,'; 
nor   even    that    it   has    its(df    recently   sold    the    hind    to   the 
propru!tor,  si-;ned  tlie  (h-ed  of  sale,  a,nd  received  the  piiynuMit. 
Aj^hast,  iHirhaps,  at  his  own  [troposal,  the  reformer  afterwards 
su.i^^'csts  that  in  mercy,  not  of  ri,i,rlit,  compensation  for  imjjrove- 
ments,  thou.i^di  not  for  the  land,  may  bo  granted.      Hut  if  the 
nation  is  to  comixMisate  for  all  improvements,  it  may  as  well 
at  once  give  ;i  deed  of  quit  tdaim  for  tiu;  land,  since  himl 
Avithout  improvements  has  no  amIuc. 

in  the  lirst  place,  how  do  the  Nationalisers  mean  to  (^arry 
into  effect  their  schemes  of  resumi)tion?  They  can  hardly 
suppose  that  largo  classes  Avill  allow  themselves  to  bo  treated 
as  robbers  and  turned  out  of  their  freeholds  withont  striking 
a  blow  in  their  own  defence,  'i'liere  Avould  probably  bo  civil 
Avar,  in  Avliich  it  is   by  no  means  certain  that  the  agrarian 


1 


itniiotl  tliu 

liiivc.  hccii 

lioiM-  ;iii(l 

iml  is  "a 
sliivory." 
Willi  tlio 
iHiritiij^'c, 

vliic.li  tho 

r  Ji  liorsu 

t'rcsli  iuid 

vy  hour." 

tlu!  tliiii 

triufliold, 

<l  hy  the, 

ciMpIiati- 

ll.iit.iuii  of 

ig  iiicrcly 

wrou^'l'iil 

UiU',  lias, 

I  privatt! 
iiotliiiit^; 
il  to  t,ii(> 
|iayiiuMit„ 
terwards 
iin])i'ov(i- 
ut  if  tlic 
y  as  well 
luie  land 

to  carry 

II  hardly 
'^  treated 

striking 
be  civil 
agrarian 


SOCIAL   AND   UJDIJSTFUAL   UKVOHJTK.N.  19 

philosopher  and  his  diseiples  u-ouM  jrpt  the  hotter  of  the  owners 
un.l  filers  of  land;  Avhih-,  if  they  di.l,  soeial  jh^um,  would 
liardly  ensue. 

In  the  second  place,  as  it  is  to  the  K'overnni.M.t  that  all  lan.l 
<»•  M'o  rent  of  all  land,  is  to  he  nude  ov(,r,  u..  n.ust  ask  the 
aKrarum  socialist  what  forui  of  -ovcrnni.mt,  h..  nu-ans  to  lmvo 
us.      1  he  theorists  themselves  .lenounce,  as  loudly  as  any  one 

he  k.Km.ry  and   corruption    of   tl .litiH^ns,   who   wouhl 

hardly  I.e  n.a.h-  pure  aii.l  upri-ht  simply  |,y  puttin-  tl,,.  ,„'„,- 
aj(.Mnent   of   all    the    land    ot   the    n.tion  "  into    their    hands 
Utopians  Un-nvt  tluit  in   iutro.lucii.tr  tlu-ir  systcuns  they  will 
have  to  ,leal  with   the  world   and  with    human  (diaraeter  as 
they  are. 

Why  is  property  in  l:.,nd  thus  sinolnl  out  for  forfeiture-  and 
why  are  its  holders  selected  f.u-  especial  .lenunciatiou'/  Ho- 
<'ause,  say  tlu.  Ni.ti.malisers.  the  land  is  the  <y^^'l  „f  (jo.l  to 
niankind  and  onjrht  not  to  he  approj.riated  hy'a.iy  indivhlual 
o^vner.  I  h.s  would  pivclude  appropriation  hy  a  n:,,ti<,n,  as 
well  :,,s  iq.pn.pnation  l,y  a  man;  hut  let  that  pass.  In  ,.verv 
art.c  e  which  we  use,  in  the  p;,per  and  type  of  the  very  hook 
h.c      <ulvoe;.,tes   couhscation,    there   are    raw  nn,,l,erials  ami 

'^'";  •       ""'  •;"';'"  ;'"'  ^^--l  "'■  u-hiel.  your  coat  is  woven  to  .row 

;;"  ^'''"  '' I*  '^  '•'^'■'^'  =^"<l  en.lowed  steam  with  the  pow.u-  to  work 

tl-  ..u.nne  of  the  mill,  (iod,  for  the  nutter  of  that.  ..tve 
<;-y -nan  h.s  hrMin  ami  his  limbs.  Laml  is  worth  nothing  it 
's  worth  no  more  thnu  the  s,.une  extent  of  sea,  till  it  is  brought 

;■•';;-;;;  t.vahou  by  lahour,  wliiclMuust  be  tlKd,  or  particidar 
•"•.  l/:^  value  is  l,he  creation  of  imlividuallahmr  ami  capi- 
ta 1,  ...  th.s  case,  as  i..  the  .-ase  of  a  manub.cture.  Ci.-cnm- 
s  anccs,  s.u.h  :,,s  the  growth  of  neighhouring  cities,  may  favour 
t''^'  l="..h)w.,.M.s.  Cinnimstances  m.-.,y  favour  a,..y  owner  or 
>•-—••  They  may  ..Iso  be  unfa,vo.irable  to  .,ny  .:";, 
-  -.as  they  have  bee.i  of  late  to  the  h.,ndi„ers  an.l 
•'..i^n.,.ltu,-al  prod.,ce.-s  m  lOugland;  and  unless  th,>  Statemeans 

-ucly  m.  right  to  mulct  !..„.  for  his  ,00a /^W"^§^ 


•%ATCHE^ 


(/> 


/^.vV/  !/fJ 


y(f  y  t 


'/ 


20 


QUESTIONS   OF  THP^   DAY. 


iron  beds  of  Wyoming  and  Montana,  we  are  told,  which  to-day 
are  vahieless,  will  in  fifty  years  from  now  be  worth  millions  on 
millions,  simply  because  in  the  meantime  population  will  have 
greatly  increased.  They  will  be  wortli  nothing  unless  they  are 
worked,  and  wliere  is  the  wrong  if  metals  or  beef  or  wool 
or  anything  else  is  worth  more  to  the  producer  when  produced 
in  the  midst  of  a  swarming  population  than  when  produced  in 
a  desert? 

Nor  is  there  anything  specially  unjust,  or  in  any  way  pecu- 
liar, about  the  mode  in  which  the  labourer  on  land  is  paid  by 
the  landowner  or  capitalist.  Every  labourer  virtually  draws 
his  pay  from  the  moment  when  he  begins  his  work  He 
draws  It  in  credit,  which  enables  him  to  get  what  he  wants  at 
the  baker's  and  grocer's,  if  not  at  once  in  cash. 

All  land  will,  of  course,  fall  under  the  same  rule.  The  lot 
on  which  the  mechanic  has  built  his  house  will  be  nationalised 
as  well  as  the  ranch. 

It  would  appear  that  natural  produce,  being  equally  with 
the  land  the  gift  of  the  Creator,  should  be  equally  exempt 
from  the  possibility  of  lawful  ownership,  so  that  we  should 
be  justified  in  repudiating  our  milk  bills  because  cows  feed  on 
grass. 

Is  Poverty  the  offspring  of  land-ownership  or  the  land  laws^ 
Any  one  who  is  not  sailing  on  the  wings  of  a  theory  can 
answer  that  question  by  looking  at  the  facts  before  his  eyes 
Poverty  springs  from  many  sources,   personal  and  general: 
from  indolence,  infirmity,  age,  disease,  intemperance;  from  the 
failure  of  harvests  and  the  decline  of  local  trade;  from  changes 
in  the  modes  of  production  and  the  lines  of  commerce  which 
tlirow  men  out  of  employment;  from  the  growth  of  population 
beyond  the  means  of  subsistence.     If  the  influence  of  the  last 
cause  IS  denied,  lot  it  be  shown  what  impelled  the  migrations 
by  which  the  earth  has  been  peopled.     Poverty  has  existed  on 
a  large  scale  in  great  commercial  cities,  which  the  land  laws 
could  but  little  affect,  and  even  in  cities  like  Venice,  which 
had  no  land  at  all. 

The  increase  of  poverty  itself  is  a  fiction.     The  number 


liich  to-day 
millions  on 
n  will  have 
ss  they  are 
3f  or  wool 
1  produced 
roduced  in 

way  pecu- 
is  paid  by 
illy  draws 
^ork.  He 
!  wants  at 

The  lot 
tionalised 

ally  with 
y  exempt 
re  should 
s  feed  on 

md  laws  ? 
eory  can 
his  eyes. 

general ; 
from  the 

changes 
ce  which 
pulation 

the  last 
grations 
listed  on 
nd  laws 
3,  which 

number 


SOCIAL  AND   INDUSTRIAL  REVOLUTION.  21 

Of  people,  in  all  civilised  countries,  living  in  plenty  and  corn- 
tort,  has  vastly  increased;  it  has  increased  both  positively  and 
relatively  to  the  number  of  tlie  destitute,  and  tliough,  with 
a  vast  increase  in  numbers,    there  is  necessarily   a    positive 
nicrease  of  misfortune  and  poverty,  even  tlie  poorest  are  not 
so  111  otf  now  as  tliey  were  in  tlie  times  of  primitive  barbarism 
when  tamme  stalked  through  unsettled  tribes  at  the  mercy  of 
the  local  accidents  of  nature,  though  there  was  no  '^  monopoly  " 
of  land.     The  London  slums  are  hideous,  but  they  are  a  spot 
in  a  vast  expanse  of  decent  homes,  which  is  represented  as  not 
on  y  the  mate  of  poverty,  but  its  source.     The  two  or  three 
;nillions  in  the  days  of  the  Plantagenets  had  more  room  and 
arger  shares  of  the  free  gifts  of  nature  than  the  thirty  millions 
have  now.     liut  the  working  classes  of  those  days  lived  in 
chmineyless  hovels,  and,  as  Dr.  Jessop  thinks,  had,  in  Nor- 
folk, but  a  single  garment,  not  more  wearing  linen  then  than 
now  wear  silk      Kound  the  gates  of  the  monasteries  gathered 
beggars  for  wliom,  wlien  the  monasteries  had  been  dissolved 
was  framed  the  ruthless  vagrancy  law  of  tlie  Tudors.     Loath- 
some diseases  such  as  leprosy  were  common,  and  a  third  of  the 
population  was  carried  off  by  the  Black  Death.     Local  famines 
were  frequent,  owing  to  the  want  of  machinery  for  distribution. 
If  dissatisfaction  was  not  manifested  in  strikes,  it  was  mani- 
fested in  tlie  insurrection  of  Wat  Tyler.     Is  there  less  poverty 
in  unprogressive  countries,  such  as  the  king.loms  of  the  East 
or  Spain  and  Italy,  than  in  those  wliicli  have  been  the  seats  of 
IH-og-:S       That,  of  the  increased  wealth  of  England  and  other 
ndust  lal  countries,  the  largest  share  has  gone  to  wages  seems 
o  be  clearly  proved.     Nor  can  it  be  doubted  that  the    remu- 

n  1  .tual  work.  In  America  tbere  are  mechanics  not  a  few 
])aid  at  a  higlier  rate  than  men  who  have  undergone  expensive 
c;hi.^ion  Pi^gvess,  therefore,  is  not  the  mate  of  ^.o^::^. 
io  say  that  It  is  the  source  is  preposterous.  If  u-ogress 
«toi)pe.l,  would  poverty  stop  with  if? 

ofTiT  W,''l''  husbandmen  or  personally  make  any  use 
land.     What  we  ^vant,  as  a  community,  in  tlie  economical 


22 


QUESTIONS  OF  THE    DAY 


poinb  of  view,  is  that  the  soil  shall  produce  as  much  food 
as  possible;   aud   facts  as  well  as  reason  seem  to  shoiv  that 
a  high  rate  of  production   is  attained  only  wliere  tenure  is 
secure.     The  greater  tlie  security  of  tenure,  the  more  of  his 
labour  and  capital  the  husbandman  will  put  into  t}ie  land,  and 
the  larger  the  harvest  will  be.     It  has  been  said,  and  though 
an  over-statement,  the  saying  has  truth  in  it,  that  if  you  give 
a  man  the  freehold  of  a  desert,  he  will  make  it  a  garden,  and 
if  you  give  him  the  lease  of  a  garden,  he  will  make  it  a  desert. 
The  spur  which  proprietorship  lends  to  industry  is  prover- 
bially keen  in  the  case  of  ownership  of  land.     The  French 
peasant  is  a  remarkable  proof  of  this.     Originally,  all  owner- 
sliip  was  tribal;  and  if  tribal  ownership  has,  in  all  civilised 
countries,  given  place  to  private  ownership,  this  is  the  verdict 
of  civilisation  in  favour  of  the  present  system.     ^Vhere  tribal 
ownership  has  lingered,  as  in  Russia  and  in  Afghanistan,  gen- 
eral barbarism  has  lingered  with  it.     The  idea  that  a  wioled 
company  of  land-gral)bors  aggressed  .pon  the  public  property, 
and  set  up  a  mono])oly  in  their  own  favour,  is  a  fancy  as  base- 
less as  the  Social  Contract  of  Rousseau,  or  any  of  the  other 
figments  respecting  social  origins  Avliich   our   knowledge  of 
primeval  history  has  dispelled.     Did  this  extraordinary  fit  of 
spoliation  e(mie  without  concert  upon  every  one  of  the  coun- 
tries now  included    in   the  civilised  world?     Where  are  the 
records  or  the  traces  of  tliis  momentous  series  of  events? 

Is  it  intended  that  the  tenure  of  those  wlio  are  to  hold  the 
land  under  the  State  shall  be  secure?  If  it  is,  notliing  will 
have  been  gained;  private  property,  and  wliat,  to  excite 
odium,  is  called  monopoly,  though  there  a,re  hundreds  of  thou- 
sands of  proprietors,  will  return  under  another  form.  The 
only  result  will  be  a  change  of  tlie  name  from  freeholder  to 
something  expressive  of  concession  in  perpetuity  by  tlie  State; 
and  this  will  be  obtained  at  the  expense  of  a  sliock  to  agricul- 
ture the  immediate  effect  of  whicli  niiglit  be  a  deartli.  '^  TJiat 
we  have  all  a  right  to  live  ui)on  tlu;  land  is  a  proposition,  in 
one  sense,  absurd,  unless  tli(>  cities  ni-e  to  be  abandoned,  and 
we  are  to  revert  to  the  prinu'val  state;  in  another  sense,  true, 


■1 

i 


■'4 


4 


SOCIAL  AND   lNi:)U8']'RIAL   liEVOLUTION. 


23 


™ 


though  subject  to  the  necessary  limit  of  population.  But  what 
Nationalisation  practically  proposes  is,  that  a  good  many  of 
us,  instead  of  living,  shall,  by  reduced  production,  be  deprived 
of  bread  and  either  be  driven  into  exile  or  die. 

Nationalisation  sometimes  assumes  the  name  of  the  Single 
T;ix  movement,  which  promises  us  unspeakable  benefits  if 
\v(^  tlirow  the  whole  burden  of  taxation  on  the  value  of 
land  unimproved.  Who  would  be  found  to  hold  land?  Who 
would  be  found  to  hold  that  which  yields  nothing  and  pay  a  tax 
on  it?  Shift  the  incidence  of  taxation  as  you  will,  it  makes 
itself  felt,  directly  or  indirectly,  by  the  whole  community.  If 
justice  is  to  reign  in  the  fiscal  region,  tlie  service  rendered  by 
government,  whether  national  or  municiiial,  ought  to  be  as 
far  as  possible  tlie  nu\asure  of  taxation,  and  there  is  nothing  to 
which  government  and  police  render  so  little  service  as  un- 
improved land. 

When  we  talk  of  Nationalising,  it  is  well  to  remember,  that 
though  t(>vrit()ry  is  still  national,  luitions  no  longer  live  upon 
the  produce  of  their  own  territory  alone,  and  that  the  scope 
of  tliese  plans  of  eliange  must  be  enlarged  so  as  to  embrace  the 
commercial  world. 

A  milder  school  of  agrarian  socialists  proposes  to  confiscate 
only  wiiat  it  calls  the  unearned  increment  of  land,  tliat  is,  any 
additional  value  which,  from  time  to  time,  may  accrue  througli 
tlie  action  of  surrounding  cinnimstances  and  the  general  pro- 
gress of  the  community,  witlu)ut  (>xertion  or  outlay  on  the  part 
of  t\w  individual  owner.  Very  sharp  and  skilful  inspectors 
would  be  requii-ed  to  watch  the  increase  and  to  draw  the  line. 
The  question  also  recurs,  whetlier,  if  unearned  increment 
is  to  be  taken  away,  accidental  decrement  ought  not  to  be 
made  goo<l.  T.ut  here,  again,  Ave  must  ask,  why  landed  prop- 
erty aloiu'  is  to  be  treated  in  this  way?  Property  of  any  kind 
may  grow  more  valu:d)le  witliout  effort  or  outlay  on  the  owner's 
part.  Is  the  State  to  seize  n]»on  all  the  premium  on  stocks? 
A  meclianic  buys  a  pair  of  boots;  the  next  day  leather  goes 
up;  is  the  State  to  take  toll  of  the  mechanic's  boots? 
The  fact  is,  that  the  vision  of  certain  economists  is  distorted 


♦  ; 


tM 


1^1 


"WStAflh^-SP^lM 


24 


QUKSTIONS  OK  THE   DAY. 


and  their  vip,ws  are  narrowed  by  hatred  of  the  landlord  class. 
Too  many  landlords,  especially  in  old  countries,  are  idle  and 
useless   members   of  society,  but  owners  of  other  kinds  of 
hereditary  property  are  often  idle  and  useless  too.     That  the 
land  should  have  been  so  imi)roved  as  to  be  able  to  i)ay  the 
owner  as  well  as  the  cultivator,  does  the  comnuinity  no  harm. 
This  we  see  plainly,  wliere  the  owner,  instead  of  being  a  rich 
man,  is  a  charitable  institution.     Nor,  is  any  outcry  raised, 
when  the  same;  person,  being  owner  and  cultivator,  unites  with 
the  wages  of  one  the  revenue  of  tlie  other.     The  belief  tho.t 
there  is  some  evil  mystery  in  rent,  has  been  fostered  by  the 
metaphysical  disquisitions  of  economists,  who  seem  to  have 
been  entrapped  by  their  disregard  of  any  language  but  one. 
Rent  is  nothing  but  the  hire  of  land,  or,  to  speak  more  pre- 
cisely,  of  the   improvements   that  have   been  made  by  the 
owner  or  by  those  from  whom  he  has  inherited  or  purchased; 
and  there  is  no  more  mystery  about  it   than  there  is  about 
the  hire  of  a  machine  or  a  horse.     In  Greek,  the  word  for 
the  hire  of  land  and  of  a  chattel  is  the  same. 

The  desire  of  confiscating  tlie  property  of  landowners  is,  in 
European  countries,  clos-ly  connected  with  tlie  objects  of 
political  revolution.  But  public  spoliation,  though  it  might 
commence,  would  not  end  here,  nor  would  there  be  any  ground 
for  fixing  this  as  its  limit.  Let  a  reason  be  given  for  confis- 
cating real  estate  honestly  acquired,  and  the  same  reason  wiil 
hold  good  for  confiscating  i)ersonalty,  the  labourer's  wages, 
and  the  copyright  of  the  author  or  the  plant  of  tlie  journaHst 
who  wins  popularity  by  advocating  sjioliation  of  liis  neigh- 
bour. If  propcuty  is  theft,  tlie  property  in  the  Savings  Ba'lik 
is  theft  like  the  rest. 


Peasant  pro])rietorship  is  as  much  opposed  as  anything  can 
possibly  be  to  nationalisation  of  land;  so  the  Rationalisers, 
when  they  approach  the  peasant  proprietor,  speedily  find. 
But  there  are  some  who  look  to  it  with  unbounded  hope.  The 
political  arguments  in  its  favour  are  well  known;  among  them 
is  the  adamantine  resistance  which  it  offers  to  communism  of 


II: 


SOCIAL   AND   INDUSTRIAL   REVOLUTION. 


26 


llord  class, 
e  idle  and 
r  kinds  of 
That  the 
to  pay  tlie 
J  no  harm. 
3ing  a  rich 
iiy  raised, 
mites  with 
jelief  tlio.t 
•ed  by  the 
n  to  liave 
i  but  one. 
more  pre- 
le   by  the 
•urcliased ; 
'■  is  about 
word  for 

lers  is,  in 
•bjects  of 
it  might 
ly  ground 
or  confis- 
sason  will 
's  wages, 
journalist 
is  neigh - 
ngs  Bank 


thing  can 
malisers, 
iil}'^  find, 
pe.  The 
3ng  them 
mism  of 


all  kinds.     Economical  considerations  are  apparently  against 
it  since  a  farmer  on  the  great  scale  in  ])akota  will  raise  as 
much  grain  with  a  hundred  labourers  as  is  raised  by  ten  times 
the  number  of  French  peasants.     Socially  there  are  arguments 
both  ways.     The  advantage,  and,  indeed,  the  ultimate  exist- 
ence of  the  manorial  system,  must  depend  upon  the  presence 
of  the  landowner  upon  his  estate  and  his  performance  of  liis 
duties  to  his  tenants.     But  the  li^e  of  the  peasant  in  France, 
and  even  in  Switzerland,  is  hard,  and  sometimes  almost  barbar- 
ous, while  he  can  scarcely  tide  over  a  bad  harvest  without 
falling  into  the  money-lender's  hands.     On  the  American  con- 
tinent, where  the  people  are  more  educated,  their  tendency 
seems  to  be,  when  they  can,  to  exchange  life  on  the  farm, 
which  they  find  dull  and  lonely,  for  the  more  social  life  of  the 
city.     Perhaps  the  time  may  come  when  agriculture  will  be 
carried  on  scientifically,  and  upon  a  large  scale,  to  furnish 
food  for  an  urban  population.     The  life  on  a  great  farm  would 
be  social,  and  would  exercise  higher  intelligence  than  spad(^ 
labour.     England,  the  enthusiasts  of  peasant  proprietorship 
should  remember,  is  organised  on  the  manorial  system,  not 
only  with  manor  houses  but  with  large  farms  and  large  farm 
buildings  to  correspond.     Do  they  intend  to  clear  away  the 
farm  buildings  as  well  as  the  manor  houses,  and  to  construct 
a  set  adapted  to  small  holdings  in  their  room? 

Liberation  of  labour  from  the  exactions  of  the  capitalist  is 
the  hope  of  those  who  set  on  foot  co-operative  works.  These 
hitherto,  have  generally  failed  from  inability  to  wait  for  the 
market  and  tide  over  bad  times,  from  want  of  a  guiding  hand, 
and  from  the  unwillingness  of  the  artisan  to  resign  his  inde- 
pendence and  his  liberty  of  moving  from  place  to  place; 
though  the  last  cause  is  less  operative  with  the  submissive 
Frenchman  than  with  his  sturdy  English  or  American  com- 
peer. Capital,  spelt  with  a  big  initial  letter,  swells  into  a 
malignant  giant,  the  personal  enemy  of  labour;  spelt  in  the 
natural  way,  it  is  simply  that  with  which  labour  starts  on  any 
enterprise,  and  without  which  no  labour  can  start  at  all,  unless 


26 


QUKSTIONS  OF  THE   DAY. 


i  t 


it  be  that  of  the  savage  grul)bing  roots  with  his  nails.     It 
eludes  a  spade  as  well  as  factory  plant  tliat  has  cost  mill 


in- 


ions ; 


aining.     We 


it  includes  everything  laid  out  in  education  or  ti _ 

miglit  as  well  talk  of  emancipating  ourselv(>s  f roiu  tlie  t^^ranny 
of  food  or  air.  Every  co-operative  association  must  have 
some  capital  to  begin  with,  either  of  its  own  or  borrowed,  the 
lender,  m  the  latter  case,  representing  the  power  of  large 
capital  just  as  nnicli  as  any  employer.  The  aggregrtion  of 
great  masses  of  capital  in  one  man's  lia.v  ^  social  dan-er 
and  one  against  which  legislators  ought,  .  fair  means"  to 

guard,  though  It  IS  sometimes  not  without  a  good  aspect;  wit- 
ness the  New  York  Central  Ilailroad,  wliicli  could  hardly  have 
been  brouglit  to  its  present  state  by  managers  under  the  neces- 
sity of  providing  an  equally  large  dividend  every  year.     But 
the  operation  of  tlie  joint-stock  principle,  it  seems,  is  produc- 
ing a  gradual  change  in  tliis  respect.      It  will  often  be  found 
that  the  rate  of  j.rofit  made  by  :.,  great  capitalist  is  far  from 
excessive,  tliougli  his  total  gains  may  be  largo.     Mr.  Brassey's 
total  gains  were  large,  but  tlie  rate  did  not  exceed  three  per 
cent,  on  the  outlay,^  while  it  is  very  certain  tliat  witliout  him 
ten  thousand  workmen,  destitute   of  capital,  scientific  skill 
and  powers  of  command,  could  not  liave   built  the  Victoria 
Bridge.     Co-operative  farming  seems  to  bold  out  more  hope 
than  co-operative  manufactures.     Still  it  would  need  ca.ntal 
and  a  head. 

In  fact,  what  tlie  Socialist  demands  is  not  tliat  the  agency 
of  capital  should  be  abolislied,  but  that  the  sole  ca])italist 
should  be  the  State.  Tlie  State  is  the  government.  Govern- 
ment consists  of  men;  and  we  have  to  ask  ourselves  whether 
by  putting  all  tlie  capital  into  the  hands  of  these  men  and 
making  tlu^m  arbiters  of  all  employment  we  should  greatly 
improve  upon  things  as  they  are  mm. 

To  get  rid  of  competition,  and  substitute  for  it  fraternity 
among  workers,  is  the  other  aim  of   co-operation.     But  the 
co-operative  societies  must  com])ete  with  each  otlier,    while 
as    buyers,  having   regard   to   cheapness    in   tb.«ir  purcliasesi 

'  See  Life  and  Lahanr..  „f  Mr.  Bmxso,,.  l.y  Arlluir  Helps.     Page  158. 


ails.  It  in- 
5t  millions; 
iuing.  We 
tlie  tyranny 

must  have 
rvowed,  tlie 
iv  of  large 
regrtion  of 
iial  danger, 
r  means,  to 
spect;  wit- 
lardly  have 
r  the  neces- 
year.     But 

is  produc- 
i  be  found 
s  far  from 
.  Brassey's 

three  per 
itliout  him 
tiiic  skill, 
le  Victoria 
more  hope 
ed  capital 

he  agency 

ea])italist 

Govern- 

!S  whether 
men  and 

Id  greatly 

fraternity 

But  the 

n",    while, 

aircliases, 


Page  158. 


.SOCIAJ.    AND    INDUSTRIAL   UKVDLIITION.  2'? 

they  will  then.solvcs  be  alw.tys  ratilyiug  the  principle  of  .om- 

uon:;:';i;r ;.:f  r-^  't  ^'"'^ "^'  ^'^^^^"^  ^^^'  --■^--- 

not  on  the  1  ra  ernal  principle,  but  according  to  tlie  amount 
-u    value  of   his    work.     No   co-operative    association  p  y s 
philanthropic  prices  tor  its  goods  or  philauthropie  wages  tol 
clerks  and  porters.      Every  heart  must  be  touched  by    1  t   ! 
Mity  and  wish  that  co-operation  could  take  tlie  place  of  com- 
petition, whicli   111  Its  grinding  severity,  is  too  like  many  other 
lungs  in  this  hard  world.     But,  after  all,  choose  any^uanu- 
lactured  artice   consider  the  multitude  of  people  who^^^n  Z- 
ous  trades  and  difterent  countries  have  co-operated  in  the  1- 
.luction,  yet  have  not  competed  with  each  other,  aiul  it  wiH  be 
ecu  that,  even  as  things  are,  there  is  more  of  co-operath^r 
than  ot  competition  among  the  workers  opeMtion 

Co-operative  stores  have  nothing  but  a  misleading  name  in 
common  with   co-operative   works.     They  simply   bring   the 
consumer  into  direct  relation  with  the  producer,\uid  give  him 
he  benefit  of  wholesale  prices,  which  may  be  perfectly  wl 
lone,  so  long  as  the  officers  of  the  association  cL  be  trurted 
o  exercise  fc.  the  sodety  the  same  degree  of  skill  and  i^^ 
nty  in  the  selection  of  goods  which  the  retail  tradesman  exet 
c  ses   for   himself.     Retail   establishments,    however,  of   t  e 
o  dinaiy  kind   but  on  a  large  scale,  like  that  of  the  late  A    T 
Mewart,    in   New   York,   with  low  prices,    and,    best  of  "all' 
ready-money   payment,    afford   the   practical   benefits   of  '^: 
operation.      If  tliey  absorb  the  small  and  struggling  retailer 
converting  him  into  a  shopman  or  a  c.^erk,  is  he  the  ;or  e  fo^. 
e  change.     A  blessing,  however,   waits  on  everyTlev  ce  " 
00-operation,  profit-sharing,  or  whatever   it  may  ife- which 
Pt'onuses     o  efface   the   fatal    line  on  the   opp/site   sidi     of 
winch  employer  and  employed  now  glower  like  hostile  Ws  at 

inn^  :ni  r"^  "":■'  ''T  ^^"^^^^"^^^^^  '^^--^-"  -^  tl^ 

wiue  IS  little  hope  of  secure  peace. 
I'Vom   tlie   coercive   action    of    Trade-Unionism   and   from 

woikingman.     ihcy  have   not  seldom   enabled  hiin  to  make 


ilM 


28 


QUIiSTlONS  OF  THE    DAY. 


Ill 


a   airer  bargain  u-itl.  the  master,  and  tl.ey  are  perfeetly  law- 
iul;  though  It  IS  daily  heeo.uing  niure  apparent  that  the  coni- 
mumty   to  savM3  itseir  Iruni  the  niisnse  of    Unionist  power, 
must  steadfastly  guard  the  liberties  of  the  Non-union  men 
But  It  IS  easy  to  exaggerate  the  extent  to  which  wages  can  be 
raised  by  strikes.     The  serew  may  be  put  upon  the  master, 
but  It  cannot  be  put  upon  the  eommunity;  and  it  is  the  com- 
luunity,  not  the  master,  that  is  the  real  employer.     The  com- 
nmiuty  which  buys  the  goods  ultimately  settles  the  price,  and 
thereby  finally  determines  the  wages  of  the  producers    not- 
withstanding  any   momentary  extortion;    nor   can  it  in  the 
end  be  constmined,  by  striking,  to  give  more  than  it  thinks 
ht  anx    can  afford.     The  workman  himself  who  strikes  buys 
everytlnng  as  cheap  as  lie  can,  and  in  so  doing  he  is  keeping 
down  the  wages  of  those  whose  labour  produces  the  article  to 
the  lowest  point  in  his  power.     By  strikes,  carried  beyond  a 
certain  point,  capital  may  be  driven  away,  and  the  trade  may 
bo  ruined,  as  trades  have  been  ruined,  but  the  rate  of  wa-es 
will  not  be  raised.     The  master,  though  he  is  the  immediate 
employer,  is  the  agent  through  whom  the  community  i.ays  the 
worknien.     To  the  men,  his  commercial  relation  is  at  bottom 
that  of  a  partner,  taking  out  of  the  earnings  of  the  business 
the  shai^  which  IS  duo,  or  deemed  to  be  due,  for  capital,  risk, 
and  guidance      Masters  are  beginning  to  mark  this  fact  in  a 
kindly  way   by  giving  shares  in  the  concern  or  premiums  to 
he  men,  while  they  retain  the  guidance  in  their  own  hands. 
If  the  employer  is  taking  more  than  his  share,  strikes  may 
rectify  the  injustice.     ]Uit  what  is  his  share  must  be  deter- 
mined, not  by  the  profits  of  a  particular  employer  at  a  par- 
ticiilar  moment,  but  by  the  general  balance,  taking  good  years 
with  bad    of  the  profits  and  losses  of  the  employers  in  the 
trade.     Mr.  ]]i-assey's  losses  in  one  year  wore  so  heavy  that 
his  property  of  every  kind  was  largely  committed,  and  there 
were  times,  we  are  told,  at  which,  if  he  had  died,  he  would 
Have  been  found  a  comparatively  poor  man. 

Strikers  should  never  forget  that  they  are  themselves  buyers 
as  well   as   producers,  and,  therefore,  employers  as  well  as 


I 


SOCIAL  AND   INUlJSTItrAl.    FIHVOLUTK.N.  29 

employ.,1,  «,  Uu.t  U'  ti„.^.  „,„  ,tnk.  a,-ai„,st  tl,o  ro,,t  of  tl,e 
.—  iuiy,     In,   „tl,..,.  t,-.,lc..s  «u,    .,t,.ik„   UBai„st   tl .  „      ■    , 
> ogos  b,,,,,;.    I.UH  ,.:us.,l  all  ,,„„„,,  „„|„,|^  ^"m  ,,„  j,„    1        f 
ILy  o„aht  ak„  to  ,.„„UM„1,„,.  tl.a  y,,.^  , J„  „„,^  ,„.      -        ; 
tr.al  orsa,„sn,,  o„  the  w„II-l,„i„,,  „f  „,.i„u  a,  a  >vl,oh  t  "       ,■ 

tl  0  ,l,stu,ba,u.  01  any  ,„„,,„„  ot  it.     A  .tdko  i„  one   0  ti  m 

t.;^..a.tco„.,.a.tlo.o;,,i:t;,f;— ;t:^t^ 

».mIov.  and  say  the  su.g,.„„s  wero  on  sfLv  ^  ""'  "' 

Art.sans  are  in  the  babit  of  speaking  of  tbeinsel.es  exclu- 
sively as  worlungmen.     Everybody  „ho  i.  not  idle  is  .  ™  k 
n.«man  whether  he  works  with  bis  brain  or  with  h  s         ,s 
and  whatever  part  he  may  play  in  the  service  of  a  va ri  d  and 
complex  civilisation.  "'" '""' 

Mannal  labour  is  also  tanght  to  believe  that  all  wealth  i, 

^.^.nationallJ-rll^lt^httrtr^^^ 
safon    he  mere  product  of  manual  labour  y    Suppose  a  »lv 
..     >vorkn.g,neii  were   set  .lovvn  in  a  country  byTem;ota 
"ith  no  inheritance  from  the  mst  no  ,..,„lt.  1  "'.°™^«'™s, 

;;.*...;.ents  of  production  o'tii'i^-ih:;  i;:!::t::^'2z 

the  extinction  of  poverty  be  the  result  ■'  '         '"^ 

Will  n.cuin.      iMalthus  will  retiini-    n,^i-  +1,^  • 

"tttstiiirrrrT"'™'"'"''-^^^^^^^^^ 

least  must  be  dinuiuslied  or  some  must  go  unfed.     If 


■|lTr 


It 


80 


QIIKSTION.S  OF  THK    DAY. 


by  tho  growth  of  tlM,  iirti.san  popuUtion  tlu>  lul.oiir  .M;i,k,.t 
IS  overoroNv.1.,1,  strike  us  olt.n  us  you  will,  there  cannot  be 
oniploy.uent  with  goo.l  wuges  lor  uU.  The  idea  that  niultipli- 
cati.m  of  labourers,  without  increase  of  the  natural  means  of 
production,  will  increase  the  produce  seems  to  possess  son... 
minds,  b.it  It  scarcely  needs  confutation.  Let  them  try  the 
experiment.  See  whether  by  .lumping  a  thousa.ul  Socialists 
on  a  Imn.ln.d  ac.vs  of  land  you  can  increase  the  yiel.l  so  that 
l.oy  shall  all  be  fe.l.  A  heavy  ivsponsibility  is  incurred 
by  agitators,  lay  or  clerical,  who  mislead  the  i^eople  on  this 
subject. 

It  cannot  be  doubted  that  those  unhappy  conflicts  betwcrn 
eniploycr  and  employed  have  given  birth  to  a  set  of  men  who 
subsist  by  in.lustrial  war.      In  the  journals  and  speeclu.s  of 
these  men  nothing  is  said  about  the  iniprovement  which  the 
artisan  might  make  in  his  own  condition  by  thrift,  temperance, 
and  husbandry  of  his  meansj  he  is  told  only  of  the  advantag., 
which  he  might  gain  by  industrial  revolution.     Nor  is  any- 
thing sanl  about  the  efforts  which  un.leniably  are  being  ma.le 
by  the  employer  and  by  society  at  large  to  raise  the  lot  of  the 
artisan.     Uefore  the  men  theins.jlves  the  hoi)e  of  risin-r  into  a 
higher  gra,le  of  industry  is  not  set.     They  are  led  to^•egard 
themselves  as  .lestined  to  the  end  of  their  .lays  to  be  nuMuber^ 
of  a  union  of  wage-earners  always  doing  battle  with  their 
masters.     The  artisan  is  always  the  "  toiler, "  the  other  classes 
are      spoilers,"  and  the  drift  of  the  preaching  is  that  th<. 
spoilers  ought  to  be  made  to  disgorge,  and  are  lucky  if  they 
escajie  condign  punishment. 

Capitalists  and  the  wealthy  class,  it  seems  to  be  assumed 
whatever  is  done  to  them,  will  always  be  in  existence  an.l  will 
present  themselves  like  sheep  for  an  annual  shearing.  IJut 
these  sheep,  once  sheared,  will  grow  no  more  w<jol.  Men  will 
not  earn  and  save  wealth  for  the  conHscator.  The  store  once 
riflo.l  and  the  Avealth  spent,  as  by  the  common  workman  it 
probably  would  be,  in  meat,  drink,  and  tobacco,  there  would 
remain  labour  without  capital  or  guidance,  a  demoralised 
industry,  and  probably  lack  of  bread. 


I 


W>CIAI,   AM)   l\l>II.ST|,|.w,    liKVdl.lITIl.W.  Jl 

TJUM,  IJ„.,v    is   H„.   I,,,,.,.  „[■  ,,„(,      j„,,,,,,,|, 

.  lus,„„    „,  ,„:,,  |„.  t,.„,v-  s.i,l,  tl,at  „„t  th„  vviKI.'t  ,1,-.,  ,n 
':<•  -1.  ;;i".st    ,„.  „f  tl„»,  .,lv.„t,„,,«  ,w,o  s.il,.,I  i,      ,, 
;"  ""   '■•W--'l". ;>-.  .  „„„■„  c.xf.,„.,li„,„.v.  inxtan,,.  „  '    I  ' 
Munan    ,,„„.,.,.  o     .s,.lf..l,,.,,,ti„„.     A,,,,,,,,-  tl,o  .l,.,„,,i     „     r 

i'"l'l>"  -"1  l."vato,  l,y  ,a,yi„,,  ,|j  t,,.  dol,L  with  de,,  C  ^,1 

M  te,  ,„ulo.-  t  .0  L,.,.al  Tculer  Act,  J,as  been  alr^uly  u 
tut  tl,,.,„  a«,  also  l„„„.st  enthusiasts,  not  a  fow,  who  s^ncor  t 
l>H.,.vn  that  a  ™,„n„.,,.ia.  n.ill.nninn,  „„„hl  'u,  o,"  1 ,  i  ^ 
mvn.ly   ,ssnn,s  a  H.«..l  of    p.-onussory   n«t,.s    an.l       n    i 
P»yn...nt       This    ,n.o„i„„us    fallacy  Ls   it  o   ^  n   i  r    ? 
«,u>yocal  r,s„  „t  a  ,v„nl.     Wo  have  got  into  the  h,  Wt  of 
apply.n,-  thn  nan.e  n„,„oy  to  hank-notes  as  well  as    o    „in 
I  lie  pape,.  hen.g  eu.rent  as  well  as  the  eoin    we  fanev  tl    ; 
-tl,  1,0th  al.ke  wo   hny  ,,oo,ls.     Hot   the      nl  i'     f.t    I' 
I'm-  "Illy   with   the  eoin,  to  whieh    alono    tl  , 

.».,t . he a,,pue,..  Ti. .«n,™tf i^.^ i,:™::;^ 

H,l,t,    ,ke  a  ehoque;    not  n.oney  itself,  hot  an  or.ler  an.l 
a  seeur.ty  for  a  smn  of  n,o„ey,  whieh,  the  noto  hein.    avah 
on  de,,,.,d,  ean    e  .l.-awn  hy  the  hohlo,-  f,,™.  the  blnir 

,,,     ,       ■      ^^'"■"   ;'   '"»"    '""^"''><   »-   lank-note,    he  ha, 
M.tnally  so  much  coin   as  the   noto   represents   „  ,t   f'r 
-count  at    the   hank   l,y  which   tho   n.lt     ."    ,«  "^      T  e' 
note  .s  a  pronussory  note,  and  the   lank  in  incrcllin,/ 
'•"■'•ulatn™,  hko  a  fador  who  increases  tho  nnnd'e       F  IK 

ats.     m  tho  shp  of  paper  there  is  no  value  or  purchasing- 
-er;  nor  can  any  legislature  put  value  or  purcha  i^g  p       r 
■nto  ,t      Crccnbackors  point  to  the  case  of  postage  st  unm 

a  postage,  stamp  ,s  a  receipt  for  a  certain  sura  paid  to  the 
government  ■„  coin,  and,  in  consideration  of  whidCthe  gov^ 


32 


tiUKSTloN.S    OK    rilK    DAV. 


(, 


'0 


ernmont  imdci-takcs  to  cjiny  (lie  letter  to  wliich  the  receipt 
is  .'iflixed. 

Mo  paper  money,  it  is  lielicvt;.!,  lias  ever  yet  been  issued 
exeept  in  the  prumissory  form,  ple(l-,Mn^'  th(i  issuer  to  pay  in 
coin  upon  demand,  so  that  vnv.h  noti!   Iiitluu-to  has  borne  upon 
the  face  of  it  a  Hat  denial  and  abjuration  of  the  (Jreenback 
theory.     Supi.ose  the  promissory  form  to  he  diseanhid,  and  the 
bill  to  be  simply  inscribed  "one  (h)llar,"  as  the  Kiat-moiiey 
men  proj)()se,  what  would  "doUar"   mean?     It  would  mean, 
say  the  (Jreenbaekers,  a  wrtiun  proitortion  of  the  wealth  of 
the  country,  njion  wliieh,  as  an  a<,'Kregiite,  the  eurnMu^  would 
be  based.     AVhat  j)roportion?     Let  us  know  wliat  we  hav(!  in 
our  purse,  and  what  wo  can  got  in  exchangt*   i'or  the  paper 
dollar  on  presentation;    otlierwiso   commerce  cannot  go  on. 
This,  however,  is  not  the  most  serious  ditlieulty.     Tiie  most 
serious  ditHculty  is  that  while  the  coin,  which  a  convertible 
bank-note  represents,  is  tlu!  property  of  the  bank  of  issue,  the 
aggregate  wealtli  of  the  country  is  not  the  property  of  the 
government,  but  of  a  multitude  of  ])rivato  owners.     The  gov- 
ernment is  the  possessor  of  nothing  except  the  public;  domain 
and  a  taxing  power,  the  exercise  of  which  it  is  bound  to  eon- 
fine  to  the  actual  necessities  of  the  State.     In  issuing  an  order 
for  a  loaf  of  bread,  a  coat,  or  a  leg  of  mutton,  to  be  taken  from 
the  possessions  of  the  community  at  large,  it  would  be  simply 
signing  a  ticket  of  spoliation. 

Ask  the  Fiat-money  men  whether  they  are  prei)ared  to  take 
their  own  money  for  taxcjs,  and  you  will  get  an  ambiguous 
reply.  Some  of  them  have  an  inkling  of  the  fatal  truth,  and 
answer  that  tlie  taxes  must  be  paid  in  gold.  The  faith  of 
others  is  more  robust.  But  it  has  been  reasonably  inquired 
why  the  government,  if  it  can  with  a  printing  machine  coin 
money  at  its  will,  sliould  pester  citizens  for  taxes  at  all. 

That  the  foreigner  will  take  the  national  Fiat-money,  nobody 
seems  to  pretend.  Yet,  if  there  is  real  value  in  it,  why  should 
he  not  ?  All  the  better,  say  the  Greenbackers;  if  he  will  not 
take  our  money,  he  will  have  to  take  our  goods.  Then  you 
will  have  to  take  Ids  goods,  and  the  commercial  world  will  be 


SOCIAL    AND    INDIJSTUIAL    UlMnATU>S.  33 

M  ..aiM  to  htrtn  witlnx,!,  .,  ............  .....su,.-  ..r  vulu. 

^^^'"  ''  ^^<'"'''  ""^'  !«'  ••'  K.VHt  u.lvnn,.,.  i„  ..onv.M.ir.Mr  or  i,     i!  ' 
hsufon.      i;..,si,l,.s,  tnul,.  is  not  nuMvlv  ^i  .li,..  t  i   f 

•--"-•^';;'"« '"•^— ■■■^n.sX  •::;;;:   ;;:t;rf^::: 

i'n,t«,  Stat,.,  „,.i.i,,  >nti„„a    ;„:   t  ru, :/:  ,""^ 

would  1,(.  noxt  t„  iMij,„.s.,il,l„.  ■''t.«"'l.u,l  ol  value, 

f'"-»Hi™u.,„n,.;,:'rX^;;:;r::^,:;;;;;';;;:';- > 

ni.m,ont  of  tlicir  issue,  will  ivfus  ■  h,  .,  ,   ''■>"""'>^'  '"""  H'" 
„„  ,,.„,iit.  '  """"   '"  ■"'^■"'™  >"<"•«>,  01-  soil 

|.a.  c„s„„„,  .,„  .,„„  vuiui'":'; ';,!::";:.:  ^z:Tr 

t;'i;:iz;:;:n-;:r;!i:,^^^^^ 

0"  tl,c  uatioual  .lonuuns,  wl,i,0,      o         ,^1  ''' f """"' 

onsiual  issue.     Confo.lon.to  ,„■    c         „^ !"  '  i  'irii^,',"'-  ."'^ 
the  Ooufclcniey,  lost  tho  wide  of    I? 'I  ""  "* 

;;.""-v  of  it  ouiy  ti„.o„«„  stlt ',; ;:  ,;i;;,v''';7';' :' 

111  p.iyinoiit  lor  Jus  ooftoe,  rooo  vofl  fro,.,  ^^i 
a.Kl  ,loli«hte„  keepe,.  of  tl.e  coifeooZ  'a  ,:,,":;  T',"'"'"' 
'■Irauge.     WasliiuL-ton,  while  l,e  ,v.,«  _^ /-."■"'  """'  "*  paper 

'.-« .■oi„.e„  ti.,;ug,;  tile  ;t ;  ?  ':;:c  ::.e';X'^;  ""^ 


■:]' 


Tl 


H 


34 


QUESTIONS   OF   THE    DAY. 


It        I 


(I 


'III 


squeainisli  publicist,  recominciKled  that  death  should  be  made 
the  penalty  of  any  proposal  to  ivnvw  it.      In  jill  cases  where 
specie  pa\  iiient  has  been  resumed,  tlie  State,  in  addition  to  the 
loss  incurred  througli  disturbance  and  demoralisation  ol'  com- 
merce, has  paid  heavily  for  tlu;  temporary  suspension,  because 
its  credit  has  been  suspended  at  the  same  tinie,  and  it  has  had 
to  borrow  ou  terms  worse  than  tliose  which   it  could  have 
obtained  in  tlie  money  market,  had  its  integrity  been  preserved. 
Tlie  value  is  in  the  gold.     It  is  in  exchange  for  the  gold 
that,   wlienever  a  sale  takes  place,  the  commodity  is  given. 
Trade  was  originally  barter,  and,  in  the  sense  of  being  always 
an  interchange  of  things  deemed  really  equivalent  in  value, 
it  is   barter   still.     1  give  a  cow  for  three    sheep,  and  then 
give  the  three  sheep  for  a  plough,  which  it  is  my  ultimate 
object  to  jnirchase.     Wluit  the  three  slieep  here  do  in  a  single 
transaction,  is  done  in  transactions  generally  by  gold.      This 
fundamental  and  vital  fact  is  obscured  by  the  language  even 
of  some  economists  who  are  sound  in  principle,  but  who  speak 
of  the  precious  metals  as  though  tlieir  value  were  conven- 
tioiuil,  and  like  that  of  symbols  or  counters.     It  is  nothing  of 
the  kind.     The  first  man  who  gave  anything  in  exchange  for 
gold  or  silver,  must  have  done  so  because  he  deemed  gold  or 
silver  really  valuable;  so  does  the  last.     The  precious  metals 
probably  attracted  at  first  by  their  beauty,  their  rarity,  and 
their  natural  qualities;  then,  they  were  felt  to  have  special 
advantages  as  mediums  of  exchange  and  universal  standards 
of   value,  on   account  of   their  durability,  their  uniformity, 
their  portability,  their  inimitability,  their  capability  of  receiv- 
ing a  stamp,  of  being  divided  with  exactness,  and  of  being 
fused  again  with  ease.     Thus  they,  and,  at  least  in  the  chief 
commercial  countries,  gold,  displaced  all  the  other  articles, 
such   as   copper,    iron,    leather,   shells,   which,    in   primitive 
times,  or  under  pressure  of  circumstances,  were  adopted  as 
mediums  of  exchange  and  standards  of  value.     As  was  said  in 
the  time  of  Edward  VI.  in  a  protest  against  the  debasement 
of  the  currency,  "By  the  whole  consent  of  the  world  gold  and 
silver  have  gotten  the  estimation  above  all  other  metals,  as 


fa! 


* 


id  be  made 
ases  where 
tion  to  the 
oil  of  com- 
)n,  because 
it  has  liad 
joiikl  iiave 
preserved. 
r  the  gokl 

is  given. 
iiig  alwavs 

in  value, 

and  then 
I  ultimate 
in  a  single 
Id.  This 
uage  even 
vvlto  speak 
e  conven- 
lothing  of 
hange  for 
d  gold  or 
us  metals 
arity,  and 
vo  special 
standards 
liformity, 
of  receiv- 

of  being 
tlie  chief 
'  articles, 
primitive 
iopted  as 
as  said  in 
ibasement 

gold  and 
iietals,  as 


SOCIAL  AND   INDUSTRIAL  REVOLUTION.  85 

metest  to  make  money  and  be  conserved  as  a  treasure:  which 
estimation  cannot  be  altered  by  a  part  or  little  corner  of  the 
world  though  the  estimation  were  had  but  on  a  fanciful  ot^n- 
lon   where  indeed  it  is  grounded  upon  good  reason,  according 
to  the  gifts  that  nature  hath  wrought  in  those  metals  whe  .by 
they  be  metest  to  use  for  exchange,  and  to  be  kept  for  a  treas 
ure :  so  as  in  that  kind  they  have  gotten  the  sovereignty   iTke 
as  for  other  purposes  other  metals  do  excel."  ^    But  the  prec- 
ious metals  have  now  the  additional  value  derived  from  imme- 
niorial  and  immutable  prescription,  which  would   render    t 
practically  impossible  to  oust  them,  even  if  a  substance  p    m 
ing  greater  advantages  for  the  purpose  could  be  found.     The 
French  Kepubhcans  tried  to  change  the  era,  and  make  cW 
nology  begin  will  the  first  year  of  the  Kepublic,  instead  of 
beginning  with  the  birth  of  Christ.     But  they  found  that  they 
were  pu  hng  at  a  tree,  the  roots  of  which  were  too  completZ 
ntwined  with  a  1  existing  customs  and  ideas  to  be  torn  up 
It  would  no   be  less  difficult  to  alter  tlie  medium  of  exchan.; 
and  standard  of  value  over  the  whole  commercial  worlT  A 

eal,  the  value  of  diamonds,  as  symbols  of  wealth  and  rank, 
y  be  dependent,  not  only  on  opinion,  but  on  fancy,  yet  it  i 

use    "'::•' '"'^-    ,^"  "^"^•'--  fi-^  -^  SOU  Jam,  of 

sThJ  ^  \      "'^  '"  '"^^  ''  '''  '^'''y'  '^''"^'-^y  it«  value;    his 
L    a  nsk  which  commerce  runs,  but  it  does  not  seem  to  be 

w  iS  in       '^'y'''''^''   "-^^^«'    -    indefinitely  diminished, 
while  in  use  they  are  vastly,  and  in  an   increasing  dec^reo 
oconomised  by  the  employment  of  bank-uotos  and  othe    mi L; 

0  nt^  nt  ?'^     fV  ''"  '""  ^''^^  ^''^^'^  -^  ''^^''  ^"----^ 
r  1  .      *r"^^-^^^-  y^^^-  ^^''->1^  the  writer  has  passed 

tl.ue  ho  has  only  once  sp.mi  gold  in  circulation. 

oveiirfr"''  T'''''  '''  '"'  "^"''  ^'''"'^'  -  ^-.^'^J  Tender, 

luit  of  the  government  or  o„  tl.e  pn,rt  of  private  banks.     It  is 

'  See  Mr.  RiHuanl  nn,ley's  /../.;./  ..,/.,  ,,,  r,nIors,  Vol   I    p  m 


36 


QUESTIONS   OF   THE   DAY. 


plain  injustice  to  compel  us  to  take  anybody's  paper  as  gold. 
If  the  government  is  solvent  and  its  security  is  good,  the 
paper  is  sure  to  be  taken  in  preference  to  carrying  about  a 
weight  of  specie.  Legal  Tender  confuses  the  ideas  of  the 
people,  sliakes  commercial  morality,  and  prepares  the  way  for 
the  attempts  of  the  Fiat-money  man,  and  for  all  the  mischief 
which  they  breed. 

Of  Bimetallism  we  must  speak  with  respect,  since  it  has 
such  an  advocate   as  Mr.   Grenfell.     Yet  the  answer   seems 
to  liave   been    given    with  force  as    well   as    with   pungency 
by   Lowe:    "I    congratulate   you   on   the    discovery   of    the 
philosopher's  stone.     If  saying  that  one  metal  shall  be  equal 
in  value  to  another  can  make  it  equal,  you  are  fairly  entitled 
to  claim  to  have  discovered  the  secret  of   boundless   riches. 
But  wliy  bimetallism  only?     Wliy  not  trimetallism  or  quadri- 
metallisni?     It  is  as  easy  to  say  that  copper  is  equal  to  gold 
as  silver."     (luld  and  silver  are   two   commodities,  each  of 
which  has  its  value   regulated  by  qualities  and  circumstances 
over  wliich   legislatures  have  no  control,     llelative  or  pro- 
portional value  can  no  more  be  legislated  into  a  commodity 
than  can  absolutes  value.     r>y  the  act  of  a  government  or  a 
cona)ination  of  goveruments,  silver  or  any  other  metal  may 
autlioritatively  be  made  legal  tender  in  a  certain  pro])ortion  to 
gold,  so  far  as  the  jiower  of  that  government  or  combination 
of  governments  extends.     This  may  be  done  with  greater  ease 
if  the  community  or  communities  are  not  in  active  commer- 
cial  intercourse  with  the  rest  of  the  world.     To  have  two 
standards  is  to  have  none.     It  has  been  said  that  it  matters 
not  whether  cloth  is  bought  by  the  yard  or  by  the  ell.     It 
matters,  however,  whether  you  have  one  yard  measure  or  two, 
one  of  thre(!  feet  and  the  other  of  three  feet  and  a  quarter.     It 
was  proposed,  the  other  day,  in  America,  to  keep  up  the  price 
of  silver  by  making  all  the  servants  of  the  government  wear 
silver  buttons.     It  was  asked  in  reply  whether  the  servants 
wer.>  to  j.ay  for  the  buttons,  or  tli,^  public;  as,  in  the  first  case 
it  would  be  a  tax  on  the  s.Tvants,  in  the  second,  on  the  pub- 


ii,-< 


f  I 


Ik. 


SOCIAL   AND   INDUSTRIAL    REVOLUTION. 


37 


as  gold, 
good,  the 
[  about  a 
IS  of  tlie 
3  way  for 
mischief 


36  it  has 

31'   seems 

mngency 

"   of    the 

be  equal 

entitled 

i   riches. 

L'  quadri- 

to  gold 

each  of 

ustances 

or  pro- 

inmodity 

ent  or  a 

ital  may 

)rtion  to 

binatiou 

iter  ease 

3ommer- 

ave  two 

matters 

ell.     It 

or  two, 

■ter.     It 

lie  price 

mt  wear 

5(U'vauts 

irst  case 

he  pub- 


lic, for  the  benefit  of  the  Silver  men,  and  the  money  might 
as  well  have  been  handed  to  them  at  once.     But  we  should 
also  have  been  t(dd  Avhy  the  public  was  interested  in  keeping 
up  the  price  of  silver  any  more  than  the  price  of  salt.     It  was 
mainly  the  iniiucMice  of  tlie  Silver  men,  not  the  prevalence  of 
the  bimetallic  theory,  tliat  can-ied  tlie  Silver  Bill.     The  mar- 
ket is  flooded  with  silver,  and  if  silver  were  monetised,  as  it 
abounds  in  the  mines,  there  would  probably  be  a  deluge,  in 
which  all  proportion  between  the  legal  and  the  commercial 
value  of  the  metal  would  be  lost.     It  is  mournful  that  an 
industry  should  be  depressed,  but  of  all  ways  of  relieving  it 
tlie  most  costly  is  derangement  of  the  currency.     If  the  tobacco 
interest  is  depressed,  arc;  we  to  renu)netise  tobacco,  which  once 
was  currency  in  Virginia?     Combined  with  tlie  silver  interest 
in  the  agitation  was  tlie  recrudescence  of  (Ireenbackism  and 
tlie  desir(!  of  the  debtor  class,  especially  the  heavily  mort- 
gaged, for  an  easy  mode  of  paying  their  debts.     Nor  was  the 
Soiitli  unwilling  to  see  a  partial  repudiation  of  the  Federal 
war  debt.     The  struggle  against  Greenbackism  after  the  Avar 
was  severe,  though  ]ion(\sty  and  a  regard  for  national  credit 
l)revailed.     In  the  Silver  law  and  its  consequences  we  see  one 
more  proof  of  the  formidable  influence  of  sectional  interests 
ill  party  government  when  parties  are  nearly  balanced.     In 
the  Hnaucial  crisis  which  has  followed  we  see,  in  some  meas- 
ure at  least,  the  penalties  of  tampering  with  the  currency. 
With  the  movement  of  the  Silver  men  and  Greenbackers  in 
the  United  States  concurred  that  of  the  Civil  Servants  in 
India,  and  a  great  point  was  made  by  JHmetallists  of  this  con- 
currence.    But  in  regard  to  such  a  question  as  a  change  in  the 
world's  currency,  tlu;  pressure  of  two  great  special  interests 
was  surely  a  warning  to  be  cautious.     The  interests  them- 
selves are  part  of  the  commercial  world,  and  will  lose  in  the 
end  by  derangement   of   the   currency,  though  they  may  be 
relieved  for  a  time.      Adlu>rence  to  the  g(dd   standard  does 
not  preclude  the  "free  coinage"  of  silver  to  any  extent  for 
auxilinry  use,  the  range  of  which  each  country  may  determine 
for  itself. 


'if 


38 


QUKSTIONS   OF   Till':    DAY. 


mi 


111  1 


With  boliof  in  Fiat-money  are  often  combined  fancies  about 
tlie  tyranny  of  banks,  and  :i  desire  to  wreck  and  i)lnnder  tliem 
by  an  exercise  of  the  h^gidativo  power,  or  to  seize  the  busi- 
ness and   its   prolits,    and  phico  tliem  in  tlio   hands   of  tlie 
government.     Especially  it  is  proposed  to  take  away  the  cir- 
culation of  bank-paper,  and  the  profits  l)elonging  to  it.     Banks 
are  vital  organs  of  a  commercial  comnumity,  whicli,  in  seek- 
ing tlieir  destruction,  would  show  as  nuu-li  wisdom  as  a  man 
would  show  in  seeking  the  destruction  of  his  own  heart  or 
lungs.      Tliey  perform  for  us  three  indispensable  functions, 
whereof  the  first  is  tlie  safe-keeping  of  our  money,  which,  other- 
wise, we  should  have  to  keep  in  our  houses  at  our  own  risk,  as 
was  the  practice  of  Mr.  Pejiys  in  tlie  reign  of  Charles  II.,  and 
as  is  still  the  practice  of  the  French  peasant,  wlio  hides  his 
hoard  in  a  hole  in  the  wall.      The  second  function  is  that 
of  economising  gold,  and  at  the  same  time  sparing  us  the 
inconvenience  of  carrying  about  a  mass  of  specie,  by  issuing 
bank-notes,  which,  being  secured  upon  the  whole  estate  of  a 
chartered  corporation,  may,   in  general,  be  accepted  witliout 
scrutiny,  and  thus  form  a  paper  currency,  though  it  can  never 
be  too  often  repeat(Ml  that  they  are  not  money.     It  is  hard 
tliat  those  who  are  always  declaiming  against  metallic  money 
for  its  cumbrousness,  and  because,  as  they  say,   it  lies  dead 
and  inert,  sliould  fail  to  acknowledge  tlie  service  rendered  by 
the  banks  of  issue,  in  tluis  giving  tlie  metal  wings,  and  mak- 
ing it  do  its  Avork  for  commerce  in  a  thousand  places,  while  it 
is  locally  laid  uj)  in  one.     The  third  function,  wliich  is  tlie 
offspring  of  comparatively  modern  times,  is  that  of  enabling 
us  to  trade  on  credit.     This  the  banks  do  by  discounting  paper 
for  the  trader,  whose  resources  tliey  have  satisfactorily  exam- 
ined, and  whose  commercial  character  they  approve.     In  this 
way,   they  botli  substantiate  and  regulate  credit,  neither  of 
whicli  conld  be  done  without  their  agency,  by  tlie  mere  re- 
presentations of  the  trader  himself,  or  by  private  in(piiry  into 
his  means.     To  stoj)  the  action  of  the  banks  in  this  depart- 
niftit  wonhl  be  to  stoj)  trading  on  credit.     (Credit,  like  capital, 
IS    becoming   a   monster,  and    if   there  were    no   trustworthy 


k 


cies  about 
luior  tliein 
tho  busi- 
Is   of  the 
y  the  cii- 
t.     -Banks 
,  in  seek- 
as  a  man 
beavt  or 
'unctions, 
(;li,  other- 
n  risk,  as 
5  II.,  anil 
Iiitlos  his 
1  is  that 
<^  us  the 
y  issuing 
tate  of  a 
witliout 
!an  never 
;  is  hard 
c  money 
ies  dead 
lered  by 
nd  mak- 
wliile  it 
h  is  tlie 
enabling 
ig  pa})er 
\y  exiun- 
In  this 
'itlicr  of 
nero  re- 
liry  into 
depart- 
capital, 
twortliy 


SOCIAL  AND   TNDUSTllIAL    REVOLUTION.  39 

irwouh/br''""""' '''"'''"'' '"'  ''''''''''''^ '''  ^  -^^«t«^- 

Tlie  financial  destructive  grudges  the  bank  the  profits  of 
Its    circulation,  and  wishes  to  transfer  them  to  that  which 
he  calls  the  htate  but  which,  it  is  necessary  always  to  bear  in 
n  nd,  IS  in  fact  simply  the  men  who  compose  the  government 
Why  no    grudge  the  bank  the  profits  of  the  discount  bus  "- 
ness   and  propose  to  transfer  these  to  government  in  the  same 
way?     Why  not  do  the  same  with  all  other  trades  by  wh d 
profit,  and  often  unfair  profit,  is  made?    Why  not  make  the 
-sun,g  of  bills  of  exchange  or  pi-oinissory  ^lotes,  why 
.uake  the  supplying  of  the  community  with  clothes  or  sdioes 
Y'H>nopoly  m  the  hands  of  the  government?    What  is  there 
about  the  money  trade  in  particular  to  make  us  desire  that  it 
should  be  put  into  the  power  of  the  politicians?    Judgiiu.  bv 
experience   it  would  be  about  the  last  branch  of  commtrce  on 
which  we  should  wish  them  to  lay  their  grasp 

It  IS  the  business  of  government  to  put  its  stamp  on  the 
eo.n    in  order  to  assure  the  community  that  the  coin  is  of  the 
r^U  weight  and  fineness.     This  public  authr  -^.3  alone  can 
ati.iactori  y  do,  and   they  may  now  be   trusted   to   do   it 
though,  m  former  times,  kings  were  in  tlie  habit  of  defraud- 
H.g  the  subject  by  debasing  the  coin.     ]3ut  here  the  duty  and 
he  usefu  ness  o    government  in  regard  to  the  eurreno/seem 
0  eiHl      The  volume  of  bank-notes  issued  ought  to  be  re-ni- 
1^^<<"1,  like  that  of  all  other  commercial  paper,  by  the  requh  - 
;-.is  of  the  day,  that  is,  by  the  number^uid  amoun    oTl  e 
«tions;    and  it  will  be  so  regulated  while  it  is  in  the 
ands  o    the  banks,  whidi  will  not  fail  to  issue  all  the  b 
for  which  there  is  real  nc-ed,  while,  if  they  issue  more  tin 
are  needed,  the  bills  will  begin  to  come  back  upon  the  "hands 
i>ut  government  can  no  more  decide  what  amount  of  bank- 
paper  is  required  ii.an   it  can  decide  how  many  promis so  y 
notes  or  bills  of  exc-hange  or  dock  wa,.rants  oughi:^  a   any  ^h'n 
jucnnent  to  be  afioat.     Setting  government  tol^ih^Z^^ 
•ion  of  ,,vper  is  having  the  barometer  regulated  by  superior 
^^  'saom  u-itiu.ut  reference  to  atmospheric  pressure. 


)|     s! 


40 


(illKSTIONS   OF  TIIIO    DAY. 


Hlu 


'•\  I 


I    i 
i 


•\  a 


The  Bank  Cli.iTt(>v  A  (it  of  Fori  and  Ovnrstono  was  the  off- 
spvins  of  tlio  alarm  (';nis(>(l  by  \.\\v.  ['aUnvo  of  a  number  of 
l)rivate  banks  of  issue.  Witli  deferenec!  to  suoh  lii<,'li  authori- 
ties, somi^  would  S!i,y  that  it  might  hiive  b(UMi  better  to  adopt 
[)roper  siure.nuMrds  in  the  way  of  inspeetion  and  otluu-  pr('(\au- 
tionary  rei^nilations.  Tlie  Aet  has  j,'(me  into  operation  only  to 
a  limited  extent,  havinjjt  put  an  luul  to  the  existoneo  of  a  few 
oidy  of  the  private  banks  of  issue,  all  of  which  it  w;is  intended 
tjfradu;i,lly  to  extint^uish.  it  has  been  thriee  susi)ended  at  a 
commereial  crisis,  e:ieh  susix-nsion  beinjjj  attended  with  all  the 
iueonvenienee  ;ind  injustice  of  arbitrary  interv(>ntion;  and  its 
Lfeneral  effect,  whenever  tis^ditness  is  felt,  api)ears  to  bo  to 
l)roduce  a,  sort  of  nervous  constriction,  Avhich  itself  tends  to 
the  aecehu'ation  of  a.  ci-isis. 

Ordinary  banks,  bein«f  ])riv;ite  institutions,  are  amenable  to 
the  hi,w;  in  truth,  there  is  iu)thin,Lj  of  which  tlui  p(ditieians 
are  fonder  than  harassing  tlit>m  witii  legislation.  But  a  party 
governnuMit,  sui)p()rted  by  a,  majority,  is  its  own  law,  ami  can 
do  whatever  its  need  or  its  cu[)i(lity  ins])ires,  without  regard 
to  the  interests  of  conunevce.  Ev(>n  the  nujst  commercial  of 
siudi  governments,  wlieii  in  want  of  im)iu>y,  does  not  shriidc 
i'rom  issuing  l(>gal  tcMider  currency,  without  reference  to  the 
state  of  the  numey  market.  The  Anu>rica,n  Silver  I'ill,  again, 
shows  what  we  might  have  to  exjiect  of  tlu^  power  to  which 
it  is  demanded  that  the  functions  of  tlu»  banks  should  be  trans- 
fernnl.  Would  eomuHU'ce  have  an  hour  of  secmrity,  or  be  a,ble 
to  conduct  any  of  her  opera.tious  in  peace  a,nd  (M)nlidence,  if 
the  hand  of  demagogisiu  were  all  th(>  time  upon  her  heart- 
sti'iugs? 

r>a,uk-])a])er,  though  not  legal  tender,  cannot,  in  the  ordi- 
nary course  of  trade,  1)(^  r(d'used,  uidess  there  is  some  public 
reason  for  mistrusting  the  solvency  of  the  bank.  This  is  the 
ground  i'or  ;.id)je('ting  this  particular  class  of  ccnnnun-cual  com- 
]ianies  to  special  legislation;  and  it  is  the  sole  grouml;  there 
would,  otherwise,  b.'  no  justification  for  an  interfereiu^e  with 
the  trade  in  money  more  than  with  any  other  trade.  Nor  has 
a  government  the  slightest  right  to  compel  the  banks  to  take 


k 


SOCIAL    AND    INDIISTUIAL    UK  VOLUTION. 


41 


its  bonds,  as  tlio  condition  of  permitting  tlioni  to  pui'siio  an 
lioncst  and  indis[)i3nsal)l(!  tralHo,  or  to  liivy  trihuto  upon  tliciu 
in  any  other  way.  On  tho  otli<H-  liand,  the  stockholders  of 
hanks  must  not  suppose  that  they,  of  all  investors  in  coni- 
nuircial  ent(!rpris(?s,  are  (intithnl  to  the  intervciution  of  gov- 
ernnundi  wlu'u  their  affairs  are  niisin;inag(^d  by  directors  of 
their  own  choosing.  If  thi^y  invoke  nmh  :ud,  thtiy  will  once 
more  i)racti(!ally  point  tlie  moral  of  the  fable  of  tho  horse  and 
tiio  stag. 

The  notion  that  socicity  is  an  organism  or  growth  must  not 
be  carried  too  far;  \v(!  hav(!  (\'ich  of  us  an  individual  person- 
ality and  a  jmwer  of  acting  on  tho  gcsueral  frames,  wliiiih  the 
|)arts  of  an  organism  liavc^  not.  Ibit  this  view  is,  at  least, 
nearer  tl(e  trutli  than  tii(^  idea  whicli  underlies  all  Socialism, 
tiiat  so(uety  can  be  metanu)ri)liose(l  by  the  action  of  th(!  State, 
an  imaginary  [lowiu-  outsi(h*  all  i)ersoiKilities,  superior  to  all 
special  inter(!sts,  and  free  from  all  class  passions.  Nothing, 
inde(^d,  can  be  less  fnio  from  class  passions  than  the  move- 
mcMits  which  have  been  so  far  passed  in  review.  Social  hatred 
is  a  bad  nd'ormer,  and  tlui  struggles  to  whicli  it  has  given 
hirtli  have  almost  always  brouglit  to  the  comnumity,  and  even 
to  the  most  sulfering  members  of  it,  far  more  loss  than  gain. 

To  speak  of  Protection  would  be  opening  a  wide  subject, 
and  (me  which  ])erhaps  scarcely  falls  within  the  scojjo  of  this 
pa])er.  There  an;  nuni,  S(>nsible  in  other  tilings,  who  imagine 
that  they  can  increase  the  wealth  of  a  country  by  taxation. 
So  long  as  governments  and  armanuuits  are  maintained  on  the 
l)r(>sent  scale  of  (expenditure,  every  cjouutry  will  need  import 
duties,  and  must  have  its  tariff.  The  only  alternative,  at  all 
events,  is  direct  taxation,  with  tho  inquisitorial  annoyance 
and  the  jjolitical  dangers  which  attend  it.  Absolute*  free 
traih;,  therefore,  is  at  present  out  of  the  cpiestion,  and  the 
differciut  tariffs  must  be  regulated  according  to  the  circum- 
stances and  the  spt>cial  industries  of  each  community.  l<]very 
nation  will  chum  this  right.  Knglaud,  who  has  her  tariff  like 
the  rest,  wisely  h^ts  in  free  tiui  i-aw  materials  of  her  special 


'>-)] 


It   :  I 


Hi 


'1     'i 


(:i    h 


It       ' 


hi'ii 


m 


42 


CiUKSTlONS   OF   TIIIO    DAY. 


industries  and  the  food  of  her  innumorable  workmen,  wliile 
sho  taxes  finished  artielos  of  hixury,  such  as  tea,  wine,  and 
tobacco.     Free  traders,  15ritish  free  traders,  especially,  have 
left  this  too  much  out  of  sight,  and  have  compromised  their 
theory  by  that  error.     I5ut  tliat  taxation  can  add  to  wealtli, 
that  governments  can  increase  ]H-oduction  by  forcing  capital 
and  labour  out  of  their  natural  clianncds,  that  the  interest  of 
the  people  will  be  promoted  by  forbidding  tlicm  to  btiy  the 
best  and  cheapest  article  wherever  it  can  be  found,  are  notions 
which,  if  reason  did  not  sufficiently  confute  them,  have  been 
confuted  by  experience.     Under  tlio  free  system  the  industries 
of  England  have  been  developed,  and  her  wealth  has  increased 
out  of  proportion  to  the  growth  of  her  population,  and  to  an 
extent  perfectly  unrivalled.     Tlie  verdict  of  economical  his- 
tory through  all  tlie  ages  is  the  same.     What  is  the  proper 
commercial  area  of  Protection,    Protectionists   have   omitted 
to  explain,     j^fobody  proposes  to  draw  Customs  lines  across 
the  territory  of  any  nation,  and  the  commercial  advantages  of 
freedom  of  excliange  know  no  political  limit,  tliough  in"" pass- 
ing from  nation  to  nation  fiscal  necessity  intervenes.      The 
workman  does  not  gain  by  Protection;  lie  is  only  transferred 
to  an  artificial  industry  from  a  natural  industry,  whicli  would 
otherwise  develop  itself,  and  in  whicli,  as  it  would  be  more 
remunerative,  emi)loyment  would   be   more   abundant.      Tlie 
master  manufacturer  is  tlie  only  man  who  gains;  to  him  the 
community,  under  tlie  Protective  system,  pays  tribute;  aecor.l- 
mgly,  in  countries  where  the  system  prc^vails,  he  is  generally 
a  Protectionist,  and  uses  not  argument  alone,  but  the  Lol)by 
and  influences  of  all  sorts,  to  keep  up  the  tariff;  ho  will  evei'i 
do  his  utmost  to  encourage  expenditure,  rather  than  that  the 
scale  of  duties  sliould  go  down.     Xor  can  he  be  much  blamed, 
when  the  government  has  induced  liim  to  put  his  capital  into 
thefavourel  trade,  and  stake  his  future  on  the  continuance 
of  the  favour.     Political  or  social  motives  there  may  conceiva- 
bly be  for  Protection,  as  well  as   for  any  otlier  sacrifice  of 
commercial  interest,  such  as  war;  but  the  commercial  sacrifice 
IS  a  fact  which  cannot  be  denied.     To  foster  by  means  of  pro- 


■3 


ten,  wliile 
wine,  and 
illy,  have 
ised  their 
0  wealtli, 
ig  cai^ital 
iiterest  of 
)  bny  the 
'e  notions 
lave  been 
ndnstries 
increased 
nd  to  an 
lical  his- 
le  proper 

omitted 
es  across 
itages  of 

in  pass- 
s.  The 
Jisf  erred 
^li  Avonld 
be  more 
t.  Tlie 
him  tlie 

aecord- 
enerally 

Lol)by, 
ill  even 
jhat  the 
blamed, 
tal  into 
innanee 
)nceiva- 
•ifice  of 
jaorifice 
of  pro- 


SOCIAL    AND   INDITSTHTAL   TJEVOLITTFON. 


43 


tective  duties  or  bonuses  iurant  iiKhistries,  wliieh  may  after- 
wards sustain  themselves,  und  perhaps  draw  emigration  to  a, 
new  country,  in  itself  might  be  a  rational  and  legitimate  pol- 
icy, if  tlie  nation  eoidd  really  keep  tiic  experiment  in  its  own 
hands.  Ihit  artitieial  interests  an-  created,  a  King  is  formed, 
and  the  nation  loses  contr.d  over  its  tariff.  Such,  at  least,  is 
tlie  (!ase  with  communities  governed  as  are  those  of  the  Ameri- 
can continent.  Tlie  held  of  i^olitieal  economy,  as  a,  region  not 
in  the  air  but  on  the  earth,  and  the  tendencies,  cai)a.bilities,  and 
forces  of  society  witli  which  the  economical  legislator  deals, 
nnist  be  treated  as  they  really  are. 

Steady  industry,  aided  by  the  ever-growing  powers  of  prac- 
tical science,  is  rapidly  augnuuiting  weaUh.  Thrift  and  in- 
creased facilities  for  saving  a,nd  lor  the  employment  of  snuill 
capitals  will  promote  tlie  e(iua,lity  of  distribution.  Let  gov- 
ernments see  that  labour  is  allowed  to  enjoy  its  full  earnings, 
untaxed  by  war,  waste,  or  ini(iuitous  tarilfs.  The  best  of  all 
taxes,  it  has  been  truly  said,  is  the  least.  Witli  equal  truth 
it  may  be  said  that  the  best  of  all  governments  is  that  which 
has  least  occasion  to  govern. 


\\ 


•'I 


I  1 


UTOPIAN    VISIONS. 


' 

t 

i 

M 


til 


III 
lie 

ilS 

;i  ( 

it 

of 

rec 

rle 

re\ 

]iai 

aw 

Olll 
LHti 


CllC 


neu 
sur: 


of 


r 


UTOPIAN    VISIONS.' 

Amonu  otI.orsiKms  of  tho  .so.i.I  ,umI  industrial  unrest  of 
.0  .«o  ha.  I...n  tin,  production  of  ;.,  nundu-r  of  Utopias  such 
.s       IlM,  Conung  Ka,..,"  '' N.-ws  Iron.    Nowhor.,"  "CWs 
Cc^umn''a,.    'M.ool<in,    Ma.-kwanl,"   th.    l.st-.^uno.l   1 "  ^^ 
ho  mos    wHloly  .urn.l:d,..,l  and  popular  <.f  all.     As  tho  rai^ 
Low  M,  th.  spray  of  Niagara  nuu-ks  a  cataract  in  the  river     1  o 
uppouranco  of  Utopias  has  nutrkod  cataracts  in  the  stream  of 
nstory.     T  ..t   of   More,   fron.    u-hich    the   general    nan.e  Z 
.tken    and   that  ot  JJaludais,  n.arked  the  fall  of   the  stream 
'•■o.n  the  MnhUe  Ages  into  modern  times.     Plato's  "  Republic" 
•narked  tho  catastrophe  of  (ireek   repuhlicanisn,  though  it  is 
not  a  mei;e  Utopm,  but  a  grc-at  treatise  <.n  nu.raiity,  and  even 
as  a  pol.t.cal  speculation  not  wholly  beyond  the  pale  of  what 
.t  Greek  citizen  might  have  regarded  as  practical  reform,  since 
■t  IS  m  Its  main  features  an  idealisation  of  Sparta.     Visions 
of  reform  heralde.l  the  outbreak  of  Lollardism  and  the  Insur 
.^.^on  o    the  Serfs.     The  lancies  of  Kousseau  and  Bernardin 
(le  St.  1   erre  heralded  the    French  devolution.      Kousseau's 
reveries,  be  it  observed,  not  only  failed  of  realisation,  but  gave 
.ardly  any  sign  of  that  which  was  coming.     The  Jacobins 
canted  in  his  phrase,  but  they  n^turned  to  the  state  of  nature 
on  y  in  personal    filthiness,  in  brutality  of  manners,  and  in 
J?  ullotm.ng  Lavoisuu-  because  the   Republic  had  no  need  of 
ciiemists. 

There  is  a  general  feeling  abroa.l  that  the  stream  is  drawinc^ 
near  a  eata,ract  now,  and  there  are  apparent  grounds  for  th^ 
^niniise.      1  here  is  everywhere  in  the  social  frame  an  outward 

Of  ^^z:^v:^::::f '''-'  ^^^^-^^  ^"  ^^^  ^--  -^-  the  t^e 

47 


•  v_. 


II    ''I 


48 


QUESTIONS   OF  THE    DAY. 


iii 


ll 


I  '■' 


I  . 


yi 


t 


unrest,  Avliich  as  usual  is  the  sign  of  fundamental   change 
within.     Old  creeds  liave  given  way.     The  masses,  the  arti- 
sans esj^ecially,  have  ceased  to  believe  that  the  existing  order 
of  society,  with  its  grades  of  rank  and  wealth,  is  a  divine 
ordinance  against  which  it  is  vain  to  rebel.     They  have  ceased 
to  believe  in  a  future  state,  in  Avhich  Dives  and  Lazarus  are 
to  change  places.     Of  labour  journals  secularism  is  the  creed. 
Social  science,  if  it  is  to  take  tlie  place  of  religion  as  a  con- 
servative force,  has  not  yet  developed  itself  or  got  firm  hold 
of   the  popular  mind.     The  rivalry  of   parties   for   popular 
favour  has  made  suffrage  almost  universal.     The  poor  are 
freshly  possessed  of  political  power,  and  have  conceived  vague 
notions  of  the  changes  which,  by  exercising  it,  they  may  make 
in  their  own  favour.     They  are  just  in  tliat  twilight  of  educa- 
tion in  which  chimeras  stalk.     TJiis  concurrence  of  social  and 
economical  with  political  and  religious  revolution  has  always 
been  fraught  with  danger.     The  governing  classes,  unnerved 
by  scepticism,  have  lost  faith  in  the  order  which  they  repre- 
sent, and  are  timorous  and  inclined  to  hasty  surrender.     Some 
members  of  them,  partly  from  genuine  philanthropy,  partly 
from  ambition,  partly  perhaps  from  fear,  are,  like  the  aristo- 
cracy of  the  salo7is  in  France  in  the  last  century,  dallying  with 
revolution.     Demagogism  has  learnt  the  art  of  bribing  by 
socialistic  legislation  the  many  avIio  have  votes  at  the  expense 
of  the  tax-paying  few.    The  sight  of  accumulated  wealth  has 
stimulated  envy  to  a  dangerous  pitch.     This  is  not  the  place 
to  cast  the  horoscope  of  society.     We  may,  after  all,  be  over- 
rating the  gravity  of  the  crisis.     The  First  of  May  hitherto 
has  passed  without  bringing  forth  anything  more  portentous 
than  an  epidemic  of  strikes,  which,  though  very  disastrous, 
as  they  sharpen  and  embitter  class  antagonisms,  are  not  in 
themselves  attempts  to  subvert  society.     A  writer  wlio  has 
surveyed  all  the  democracies,  says  tliat  the  only  country  on 
which  revolutionary  Socialism  has  taken  hold   is   Englaiul. 
German  Socialism  appears,  as  was  said  before,  to  be  largely 
impatience   of  taxation   and   conscription.      Much   is   called 
Socialism  and  taken  as  ominous  of  revolution  which  is  merely 


UTOPIAN  VISIONS. 


49 


l1   change 

the  arti- 
ing  order 

a  divine 
ive  ceased 
zarus  are 
he  creed, 
as  a  con- 
irm  hold 

popular 
poor  are 
'^ed  vague 
lay  make 
3f  educa- 
ocial  and 
s  always 
mnerved 
By  repre- 
'.  Some 
y,  partly 
Le  aristo- 
ing  with 
bing  by 

expense 
alth  has 
he  place 
be  ovcr- 
hitherto 
rtentous 
iastrous, 
}  not  in 
ivlio  has 
intry  on 
iUgland. 

largely 
3  called 
1  merely 


the  extension  of  the  action  of  government,  wisely  or  unwisely 
over  new  portions  of  its  present  field,  and  perhaps  does  not 
deserve  the  dreaded  name  so  much  as  our  familiar  Sunday 
law.     The  crash,  if  it  come,  may  not  be  universal.     Thin4 
may  not  everywhere  take  the  same  course.     Wealth  in  some 
countries,   when  seriously  alarmed,   may  convert  itself   into 
nulitary  power,  of   which  the  artisans  have  little,  and  may 
turn  the  scale  in  its  own  favour.     Tliough  social  science  is  as 
yet  undeveloped,  intelligence  has  more  organs  and  an  increas- 
ing hold.      The  efforts  which  good  members  of  the  employer 
or  wealthy  class  are  making  to  improve  social  and  industrial 
relations,  though  little  recognised  by  labour  journals,  and  so 
far  disappointing  in  their  effect  on  the  temper  of  the  misses 
can  hardly  prove  altogetlier  vain.     Tlie  present  may  after  all 
glide  more  calmly  tljan  we  think  into  tlie  future.     St  U  there 
IS  a  crisis.     We  have  had  the  Parisian  Commune,  the  Spanish 
Intransigentes,  Niliilism,  Anarchism.    A  point  is  not  unlikely 
to  be  reached  in  the  progress  of  predatory  legislation  at  which 
property  will  turn  to  bay,  and,  having  arms  in  its  hands,  will 
telUho  leveller  that  ransom  for  honest  earnings  un.l  lawfrd 
savings  shall  be  paid  in  lead  and   steel.     Tlien  would   come 
social  war.    It  is  not  a  time  for  playing  with  wild-fire.    Thou-li 
Rousseau's  scheme   of   regeneration   by   a   return   to   nature 
came  to   notliing,  his  denunciations   of  society  told  with  a 
vengeance,  and  consigned  thousands  to  deatli  by  the  guillo- 
tine, hundreds  of  tliousands  to  death  by  distress,  and  millions 
to  death  by  the  sword  or  by  the  havoc  and  pestilence  which 
follow  in  tlie  train  of  war. 

The  Utopian  seer,  in  trying  to  make  tlie  vision  of  liis  fancy 
attractive  by  contrast,  is  naturally  tempted  to  overpaint  the 
evils  of  the  actual  state  of  things.  "Looking  Backward" 
opens  with  a  vivid  and  telling  picture  of  society  as  it  is. 

-'By  way  of  attempting  to  give  the  reader  some  general  impression 
of  the  way  people  lived  together  in  those  days,  and  especially  of  the  rela- 
tions of  the  rich  and  poor  to  one  another,  perhaps  I  cannot  do  better 
than  to  compare  society  as  it  then  was  to  a  pro.ligious  coach,  which  the 
masses  of  humanity  were  harnessed  to  and  dragged  toilsomely  alon-^  a 


% 


H 


f^ 


50 


QUESTIONS   OF    THE   DAY. 


very  hilly  and  sandy  road.     The  driver  was  hungry,  and  permitted  no 
lagging,  tliougli  tlie  pace  was  necessarily  v(My  slow.     Despite  the  diffieulty 
of  drawing  the  coach  at  all  along  so  hard  a  road,  the  top  was  covered 
with  passengers,  who  never  got  down,  even  at  the  steepest  ascent.   Tliese 
seats  were  very  breezy  and  comfortable.     Well  up  out  of  the  dust,  their 
occupants  could  enjoy  the  scenery  at  their  leisure,  or  critically  discuss 
the  merits  of  the  straining  team.     Naturally  sucli  places  were  in  great 
demand,  and  the  competition  for  them  was  keen,  every  one  seeking  as 
the  first  end  in  life  to  secure  a  seat  on  the  coach  for  himself  and  to  leave 
it  to  his  child  after  him.     By  the  rule  of  the  coach,  a  man  could  leave  his 
seat  to  whom  he  wished  ;  but  on  the  other  hand,  there  were  many  acci- 
dents by  which  it  might  at  any  time  be  wholly  lost.     For  all  that  they 
were  so  easy,  the  seats  were  very  insecure,  and  at  every  sudden  jolt  of 
the  coach  persons  were  slipping  out  of  them  and  falling  to  tlie  ground, 
where  they  were  instantly  compelled  to  take  hold  of  the  rope  and  help  to 
drag  the  coach  on  which  they  had  before  ridden  so  pleasantly.     It  was 
naturally  regarded  as  a  terrible  misfortune  to  lose  one's  seat,  and  the 
apprehension  that  this  might  happen  to  them  or  their  friends  was  a  con- 
stant cloud  upon  the  happiness  of  those  who  rode." 

And  what  are  the  feelings  of  the  passengers  toward  tlie 
hapless  toilers  who  drag  the  coach?  Have  they  no  compas- 
sion for  the  sufferings  of  tlie  fellow-beings  from  whom  fortune 
only  has  distinguished  them? 


f    li 


"  Oh,  yes  ;  commiseration  was  frequently  expressed  by  those  who  rode 
for  those  who  had  to  pull  the  coach,  especially  when  the  vehicle  came  to 
a  bad  place  in  tiie  road,  as  it  was  constantly  doing,  or  to  a  particularly 
steep  hill.  At  such  times  the  desperate  straining  of  the  team,  tlieir 
agonised  leaping  and  plunging  under  the  pitiless  lashing  of  hunger,  the 
many  who  fainted  at  the  rope  and  were  trampled  in  the  niir(>,  made  a 
very  distressing  spectacle,  which  often  called  forth  highly  creditable  dis- 
plays of  feeling  on  the  top  of  the  coach.  At  such  times  the  passengers 
would  call  down  encouragingly  to  the  toilers  at  the  rope,  exhorting  them 
to  patience,  and  holding  out  hopes  of  possible  compensation  in  Tnother 
world  for  the  hardness  of  their  lot,  while  others  contributed  to  buy  salves 
and  liniments  for  the  crippled  and  injured.  It  was  agreed  that  it  was  a 
great  pity  that  the  coach  should  be  so  hard  to  pull,  and  there  was  a  sense 
of  general  relief  when  the  specially  bad  piece  of  road  was  gotten  over. 
This  relief  was  not,  indeed,  wholly  on  account  of  the  team,  fi)r  tliere  was 
always  some  dariger  at  these  bad  places  of  a  general  overturn  in  which  all 
would  lose  their  seats." 


UTOPIAN   VISIONS. 


51 


These  passages   have  their  counterparts  in  "News   from 
Nowhere,"  and  "  Caesar's  Cohimn,"  the  latter  of  which,  inspired 
apparently  by  fear  of  the  Vanderhilts  and  Astors,  depicts  New 
York  as  niiserably  enslaved  by  a  bloated  oligarchy  of  million- 
aires, with  its  demon  fleet  of  ten  thousand  air  ships.     They 
will  Slide,  deep  into  the  hearts  of  many  who  will  pay  little 
attention   to   the   speculative  plans  of  reconstruction  which 
follow.     For  one  reader  of  "Progress  and  Poverty  "  who  was 
at  the  pains  to  follow  the  economical  reasoning,  there  were 
probably    thousands    who    drank    in    tlie    invectives    against 
wealth  and  the  suggestions  of  confiscation.     But  is  the  de- 
scription  here  given  true  or  anything  like  the   truth?    Are 
tlie  masses  toiling  like  the  horses  of  a  coach,  not  for  their 
own  benefit,  but  only  for  that  of  the  passengers  wliom  they 
draw?    Are  they  not  toiling  to  make  their  own  bread,  and  to 
produce  by  tlieir  joint  labour  the  things  necessary  for  their 
comnion  sul)sistence?     As  to  the  vast  majority  of  them,  can  it 
be  said  that  they  are  leaping  and  plunging  in  agony  under  the 
pitiless  lash  of  hunger,  fainting  at  the  rope  and  trampled  in 
the  mire?    Are  tliey  not  with  their  families  living  in  tolerable 
comfort,  with    bread    enough,  and   not   without    enjoyment? 
Has  it  not  been  proved  beyond  doul)t  that  their  wages  have 
risen   greatly  and   are  still  rising?     Have  not  the  working 
classes,  unlike  the  horses,  votes?     Is  there  really  any  such 
sliarp  division  as  is  here  assumed  to  exist  between  labour  and 
wealth?    Are  not  many  who  have  more  or  less  of  wealth  and 
would  have  seats  on  tlu;  t.)p  of  any  social  coach,    labourers 
and  producers  of  the  most  effective  kind?     Such  a  writer  can 
liardly  be  the  dupe  of  tlie  fallacy  that  those  only  labour  who 
work  witli  tlio  hands.     Wiiat  is  the  amount  of  the  hereditary 
property  held  l)y  idlers  in  such  a  country  as  the  United  States, 
compared  Avith  that  of  tlie  general  Avealth?     Do  the  holders 
even  of  that  prop(>rty  really  add  by  their  existence  to  the 
strain  on  the  Avorkers  as  tlie  passengers  by  their  presence  add 
to  tlie  strain  on  the  horses?     Sui)j)osing  they  and  their  riches 
were  annihilated,  would  the  workers  feel  any  relief?     Would 
they  not  I'aiher  lose  a  fund  upon  which  tliey  draw  to  some 


52 


QUESTIONS  OF  THE   DAY 


111) 


1  ' 


1  •; 


;;  li 


extent  at  need?  Tl.e  hereditary  wealth  whicli  is  liere  taken  to 
be  the  monster  iniquity  an  1  evil,  what  is  it  but  the  savings  of 
past  generations?  Had  those  who  made  it  spent  it,  instead  cf 
leaving  it  to  their  children,  should  Ave  be  better  off'.*  Then 
as  to  the  feelings  of  the  rich  toward  the  poor,  can  a  Bostonian' 
as  this  writer  is,  look  round  his  own  city  and  fail  to  see  that 
heartless  indifference  has  its  seat  only  in  the  souls  of  a  few 
sybarites,  and  that  sentiments,  at  all  events,  of  philanthropy 
and  charity  are  tlie  rule? 

It  is  in  these  Utopias  that  we  see  most  distinctly  embodied 
the  belief  that  equal  justice  is  the  natural  law  of  the  world 
and  th.t  notiiing  keeps  us  out  of  it  but  the  barrier  of  artifi- 
cial arrangements  set  up  by  the  power,  and  in  the  interest, 
of  a  class.     Break  down  that  barrier  by  revolutionary  legisla- 
tion, and  the   kingdom  of  equal   justice,  it  is  thought,  will 
come.     Would  that  it  were  so!     Who  could  be  so  selfish  and 
so  Ignorant  of  the  deepest  source  of  happiness  as  not  readily 
to  vote  for  the  change,  whatever  his  own  place  on  the  social 
coach  might  be?    BuL  equal  justice  is  not  the  natural  law,  as 
the  world  IS  at  present,  toward  whatever  goal  we   may  be 
moving.      Health,  strength,  beauty,  intellect,  offspring,  length 
of  days,  are  distributed  with  no  more  regard  for  justice  than 
are  the  powers  of  making  and  saving  wealth.     One  man  is  born 
m  an  age  of  barbarism,  another  in  an  age  of  civilisation;  or- 
man  in  the  time  of  the  Thirty  Years'  War  or  the  Reign  of 
lerror,  another  in  an  era  of  peace  and  comparative  hapi,iness 
No  justice  can  now  be  done  to  the  myriads  who  have  suffered 
and  died.     Equal  justice  is  far  indeed  from  being  the  law  of 
tm>  animal  kingdom.     Why  is  one  animal  the  beast  of  prey 
another  the  victim?      Why  does  an  elephant  live  for  a  cen- 
tury and  an  ephemeral  insect  for  a  few  hours?     If  you  come 
to  that,  wliy  shcnild  one   sentient  creature  be  a  worm  and 
another  a  man  ?     In  earth  and  skies,  so  far  as  our  ken  reaches, 
imperfection  reigns.     ! .  r  who  in  "  Looking  Backward  "  wakes 
from  a  magnetic  slumber  to  find  the  lots  of  all  men  made 
just  and  equal,  might  al.nost  as  well  have  awakened  to  find 
human  frames  made  perfect,  disease  and  accident  banished 


UTOPIAN   VISIONS. 


53 


one 


the  animals  all  in  a  state  like  that  of  Eden,  the  Arctic  regions 
bearing  harvests,  Sahara  moistened  Avith  fertilising  rain,  the 
moon   provided  with   an   atmosphere,  and   the   solar  system 
symmetrically  completed.     All  this  is  no  bar  to  the  rational 
effort  by  which  society  is  gradually  improved.     But  it  shuts 
out  the  hope  of  sudden  transformation.     The  social  organism, 
like  the  bodily  frame,  is  imperfect;  you  may  help  and  benefi- 
cially direct  its  growth,  but  you  cannot  transform  it.     From 
revolutionary  violence   the  author  of  "Looking  Backward" 
,  is  himself  wholly  averse.     He  uses  only  the  magic  wand. 
With  private  property,  with  which  it  is  the  dream  of  Uto- 
pian writers  to  do  away,  go,  as  everybody  knows,  many  evils; 
among  others  that  of  inordinate  accumulation,  of  which  there 
may  be  instances  in  New  York,  thougli  it  is  a  mistake  to  think 
that  accumulation  is  a  matter  of  modern  growth,  or  that  the 
community  was  not  just  as  much  overtopped  by  the  Medici 
and  the  Fuggers  of  the  Middle  Ages,  the  great  feudal  land- 
owners, and  the  Roman  magnates,  as  it  is  by  the  Vanderbilts 
and  Astors;  while  the  restraints  of  public  opinion  were  no- 
thing like  so  strong  in  those  days  as  tliey  are  in  ours.     On  the 
other  hand,  it  is  hard  to  see  how  without  private  property  we 
could  have  the  home  and  all  that  it  enshrines.     But  let  the 
evils  be  whatever  they  may,  no  motive  power  of  production, 
at   least  of  any   production   beyond   tliat   necessary  to   stay 
hunger,  except  tlie  desire  of  property,  is  at  present  known. 
A  score  or  more  of  experiments   in  Communism  have  been 
made  upon  the  American  continent  by  visionaries  of  different 
kinds,  from  the   founders   of   Brook    Farm   to   those   of  the 
Oneida   Community   and   the    Shakers.     They   have,    as   has 
already  been  said,  failed  utterly,  except  in  the  cases  where 
the   rule  of  celibacy  has  been  enforced,  and  tlie  members, 
having  no  wives  or  children  to  maintain,  and  being  themselves 
of  a  specially  industrious  and  frugal  class,  have  made  enough 
and  more  than  enougli  for  their  own  support.     Collectively, 
the  comnumity  has  owned  private  property  like  other  com- 
panies or   corporations.     Tlie  Oneida  Community,  the  most 
prosperous  of  all,  owned  three  factories,  in  which  the  work- 


111 


C4 


Q11ES'I'I()N«  OF  Tin-:   DAV 


uinu  worn  c>,nployod   on  tho  ordinary  tcrn.s.     Rarraok  life, 
without  th.  I.onu>  Iwts  also  be.n  a  general  „on,litio,i  of  success! 
N.  It  ,s  with  ref.ar.1  to  competition,  that  otluu- social  fiend 
of  1.IUS  and  al     Utopias.     Nobody  will  deny  that  competition 
lus  ats  u.,dy  s,dc.     lint  no  other  way  at  present  is  known  to 
us  (.1  snsta.nu.g  the   progress  of  industry  and  securing  the 
iH-s    a.id  cheapest  products.     It  is  s.irely  a  stretch  of  pessi- 
Hus  u,lancy  to  descrilu,  the  industrial  worl.l  under  the  com- 
petitive system  as  a  horde  of  wild  beasts  rending  each  other, 
or  as  a  Hlaelc  J  ole  of  (Calcutta  ''with  its  press  of  maddened 
men  tearing  and  trampling  one  another  in  the  struggle  to  win 
a  phu,e  at  the  breathing  holes."     It  is  surely  going  beyond  the 
'".t.k  to  say  that  all   produecu's  are  "praying  by  night  and 
working    1,.  day   for   tlu,    frustration   of  U  oLJ^l^^ 
Pnses      and  that  they  are  as  i>aich  bent  on  spoiling  their 
iHMghbours'  crops  as  on  saving  tludr  own.     Do  two  tailors  or 
grocers  even  when  their  business  is  in  the  same  street,  rend 
each  other  when  they  meetv     Is  there  not  rather  a  certain 
l>H.therhood  betw.HM,  nuMubers  of  the  same  trade!'     Does  not 
<'a.O.  thmk  a  good  .leal  more,  both   in  his  prayers  and  in  his 
pn.,etu.,      ransact.ons,  of  doing  well  himself  than  of  prevent- 
ing Ins  icllows  from  doing  w(dl. 

The  writer  of  -  Looking  Ha(.kward  "  himsel^  says  that  "as 
men  grow  more  civilised,  and  as  the  subdivision  of  occupations 
=.nd  services  is  carried  out,  a  complex  mutual  depe  ulence 
I)C(X)mes  the  universal  rule  "     \Vl...f  ;..  41  •  1 

,  ivi..s.u  luK.        VV hat  IS  this  complex  mutual 

dependence  but  co-o])eration'i' 

As  a  normal  pieture  of  our  present  civilisation,  the  table  of 
contents  01  a  newspaper  is  presented  to  us.      It  is  a  mere  ca,ta- 
0^1    of    calamities  and    horrors;    wars,   burglaries,   strikes, 
lai hues  in  business,  cornerings,  boodlings,  murd.M-s,  suicides 
ejnbe..hmients   ami  eases   of  cruelty,  lnua,ey,  or  .l^titution 
No  doubt  a  real  table  of  contents  would  give  a,  picture,  though 
so    errilde  .u.d  heartrending  as  this,  yet  rich  in  eatasti^- 
phes      Hut  It  IS  forgotten  that  the  .-atastrophes  or  the  excep- 

ir^r'     f       T  r  T''^^^  '^'  "-spa,p..s,  especially  hi 
the  tables  of  (contents,  which  are  intended  to  catch  the  eye 


t 


UTOPIAN   VISIONS.  55 

No  newspaper  gives  us  a  picture  of  tlie  ordinary  course  of  life 
No  newspap(,r  speaks  of  the  countries  wliich  are  onjoyinL' 
secure  peace,  of  tlie  people  who  are  making  a  fair  livelihood 
by  honest  industry,  of  the  families  which  are  living  in  comfort 
and  the  enjoyment  of  affection.  liuyers  would  hardly  be 
ound  for  a  sheet  which  should  tell  you  by  way  of  news  that 
bread  was  being  regularly  delivered  by  the  baker  and  that  the 
milkman  was  going  his  round. 

Centuries  unnumbered,  according  to  recent  paheontologists 
human  society  has  taken  in  climbing  to  what  is  liere  described 
as  the  level  of  a  vast  den  of  wild  beasts  or  a  Bla(,k  Hole  of 
Calcutta.     Yet  m  oiu,  century  ov  a  little  more  it  is  to  become 
a  paradise  on  earth.     Not  Massachusetts   or  America  only 
but  the  whole  civilised  world  will  have  l^en  regenerated  and 
have  entered   into  the  e(,onomical  Eden.     So  the  writer  of 
Looking  backward"  dreams;  and  to  show  that  he  does  not 
regard  this  as  a  mere  dream,  he  cites  historical  precedents  of 
changes  whicli  he  thinks  e.pmlly  miraculous,  the  sudden  and 
unexp.«cted  success,  as   it  appc.irs  to  him  to  have  been,  of 
the  American  Revolution,  of  iUmnin  and   Italian  uniiication, 
01  the  agitation  against  slavery,     hi  two  of  these  cases  at 
least,  those  of  German  and  Italian  unity,  the  wonder  was  not 
tiiat  the  event  came  at  last,  but  that  it  was  delayed  so  Ion- 
In  no  one  of  the  cases,  surely,  is  anytliing  lik..  a  precedent  for 
so  wide  and  universal  a  leap  into  the  future  to  be  found.     From 
l)v.  Leete,  who  is  tin.  showman  of  the  new  heavens  and  new 
earth  111  "Looking  l^.ackward,"  the  i.^uler  learns  that  society 
in  the  year  !:()0(),  has  undergone  not  only  a  radical  change,  but 
a  complete  transformation,  Boston,  of  course,  leading  the  way, 
as  laris  leads  in  the  r^^generation  procdaimed  by  Comte,  and 
all  the  most  civilised  communities  duly  following  in  her  train 
Society  has  become  entirely  industrial,  war  beilig  completely 
eliminated.     No  fear  is  entertained  lest  when  the  civilised 
wor  d   has   been   turned    into   a   vast  factory  of  defenceless 
wealth,  tlie  uncivilised  world  may  be  tempted  to  loot  it.     Yet 
this  danger  is  not  imaginary  if  there  is  any  trutli  in  what  we 
are  told  about   the    military  force   latent   in   China,  to  say 


56 


QUESTIONS   OK  Tin-:    DAY. 


V> 


I  ? 


I' 


i     ; 


notliing  of  tlio  people  of  South  America,  who,  though  politi- 
ealiy  unsuccessful,  are  always  showing  tliat  they  can  light. 

The  State  has  boconu;  the  sole  capitalist  and  the  universal 
employer.     Ifow  did  all  the  capital  pass  from  the  hands  of 
individuals  or  private   companies    into   those   of  the  State? 
Was  it  l)y  a  vohmtary  and  universal  surrender?     Were  all  the 
capitiilists  and  all  tli(>  stockholders  sudiUudy  convinced  of  the 
blessings  of  self-spoliation?     Or  did  the   government   by  a 
sweeping  act  of  confiscation  s(nze  all  the  cai)ital?     In  that 
case,  was  there  not  a  struggle?     Was  not  the  entrance  into 
Paradise  effected  through  a  social  war?    A  mere  "  recognition 
of  evolution"  by  tliinkers,  the  only  means  suggested,  would 
hardly  go  far  with  eai)italists  or  joint-stock  companies,  nor 
would  they  be  likely  to  allow  themstdves  to  be  stripped  by  a 
"political  party"  so  long  as  tliey  had  the  means  of  resistance 
in  tlieir  hands.     The  seer  was  in  his  nuigm-tic  trance  when 
the  transfer  took  place,  aiid  he  has  not  the  curiosity  to  ask 
Dr.  Leete  exactly  how  it  was  effected.    For  us,  therefore,  the 
problem  remains  unsolved. 

The  inducement  to  the  change,  we  are  told,  was  a  sense  of 
the  economic  advantages  produced  by  the  aggregation  of  in- 
dustries under  co-operative  syndicates  and  trusts,  which  sug- 
gested that  by  accmiplete  unilication  of  all  industries  under 
the  State  unmeasured  benefits  miglit  be  obtained.     "  The  epoch 
of  trusts  ended  in  tlie  great  trust."     This  implies  a  practical 
approval  of  that  tendency  to  industrial  aggregation,  which  is 
a  moment(ms  feature  of  the  economical  situation,  and  which 
in  most  quarters  is  viewed  with  extreme  aversion  and  alarm. 
15ut  thes(5  corporations,   syndi(;ates,   and  trusts,  on   however 
large  a  scale  tliey  may  be,  are  still  managed,  each  of  them,  by 
a  set  of  persons  devoted  to  that  i)articular  bi;  uiess,  and  tiiey 
depend  for  their  success  on  personal  aptitude  and  experience. 
Between  such  aggregations  and  a  union  of  all  the  industries 
in  the  hands  of  a  government  there  is  a  gulf,  and  we  do  not 
see  how  the  gulf  is  to  be  passed.     The  tendency  of  industry 
appears,  it  is  true,  to  be  towards  large   establishments,  the 
advantages  of  which  over  a  multitude  of  petty  and  starveling 


I 


UTOPIAN   VISIONS. 


G7 


concerns,  both  as  regards  tliose  engaged  in  the  trade  and  tlie 
consumer,  are  obvious.  ]5ut  the  hirge  producing  establish- 
ments are  still  special,  and  the  advantages  of  combining  iron 
works  with  cotton  works  are  not  obvious  at  all. 

To  the  objection  tliat  the  task  of  managing  all  the  industries 
of  a  country  and  its  foreign  commerce  (for  foreign  commerce 
there  is  still  to  be)  would  be  diflicult  for  any  government, 
the  simple  and  satisfacitory  answer  is  that  in    Utopia  there 
could  be  no  diffieulty  at  all.     Tlio  government  being  that  of 
a  purely  industrial  commonwealth  is  itself  to  be  industrial. 
It  consists  of  veterans  of  labour  ehosen  on  account  of  their 
merit  as  workers,  the  identity  of  which  with  administrative 
capacity  and  power  of  comn-and,   as  it  is  not  likely  to  be 
tested,  may  be  assumed  without  fear  of  disproof.     We  cannot 
help  scenting  an  affinity  to  a  domination  of  the  "bosses"  of 
trade-unions,   with  the  consequences  to  civilisation   of  such 
a  rule.     To  banish  any  misgivings  which  we  might  have  as 
to  tlie  practi('ability  of  such  a  government,  the  seer   jioints 
to  the  part  taken  by  alumni  in  the  government  of  universities; 
surely  as  subtle  an  analogy  as  the  aeutest  intelligence  ever 
discerned.     The  government  is  to  be  "  responsible  "  in  all  tliat 
it  does.     But  liow  in  the  last  resort  is  responsibility  to  be 
enforced  and  usurpation  to  be  repressed  by  a  community  of 
industrial  sheep? 

The  new  organisation  of  labour  has  been  followed  by  such  a 
flood  of  wealth  that  everybody  lives,  not  only  in  plenty,  but 
in  luxury  and  refinement  before  unknown.     Everybody  is  able 
to  give  up  work  at  forty-five,  that  being  fixed  as  the  procrus- 
tean  limit  for  all  constitutions,  and  to  pass  tlie  rest  of  his 
days  in  ease  and  enjoyment.     "No  man  any  more  has  any 
care  for  to-morrow,  either  for  himself  or  his  children,  for  tlie 
nation   guarantees   the   nurture,    education,  and   comfortable 
maintenance  of  every  citizen  from  the  cradle  to  the  grave." 
All  the  world  dresses  for  dinner,  dines  well,  and  has  wine  and 
cigars  afterwards.     Under  all  this  lurks,   it  is  to  be  feared, 
the  same  fallacy  whicli  underlies  tlie  theory  of  Mr.  Henry 
George,  who  fancies  that  an  increase  of  population,  being  an 


'ii,.i 


;  )l 


68 


(iUKSTIONS  OK  TIIH    DAV 


ru 


i! 


1  I 


I 


incraasoof  tho  nuinlmr  of  liilxMnvrs,  will  in-oportionullv  an- 
nuMit  production,  and  (M)nHo<iu(.nt,ly  iliat  tiu;  fears  of  Mall,l,us 
and  all  who  dread  ovf-r-population  iivo.  baseless.     It  is  assumed 
that  everyllui,-  js  produced  l,y  I.Iu.ki.      J5ut  the   fa.-t  is  that 
labour  only  l)rodu(!(^s  the  fovui  or  direets  the  natural  fonses. 
The  material  is  produe.od  by  N;ituii.,  and  hIm^  will  uot  supuly 
mor.!  than  a  given  (piantity  within  a  K'iv.Mi  area  and  un...-r 
given   conditions.     ICv.mi  in   Massa.dnisetts,   tluM-efore,  whieh 
IS  supposed  to  be  the  ju-imal  seiuie  ..f  humiu,    regeueration, 
the  p(>ople,   however  skilled  their  labour,  and  however  i.h'a,l 
their  mdustri:i,l  org.uiisidiion  might  be,   unless   their  number 
were  limited  or  tlxur  territory  enlarged,  would  starve.     This 
IS  a  serious  quest  ion  lor  a  State  whi(d.  "guaraut.vs  to  t-very 
one   nurture,    edueation,   and  eomfort:.bl..   mainteuiuiee   from 
the  eradle  to  tlu;  graven"     As  tlu;  gnarante.;  extcuids  to  the 
mtizcm's  wife  and  ehihl  as  well  as  to  himself,  ;u.d  they  are 
made  iudependcMit  of  his  labour,  tlu,  last  restraint  of  prudeiuio 
on  marriage  and  giving  birth  to  ehildreu  would  be  removed 
The  people  would  then  probably  u.ultiply  id,  a  rat(^  whicdi  would 
leave   Irish  or    Freneh-Cauadian  l.hiloi.rogenitiveness  behiud, 
and  without  remedial  action  a,  vast  scene  of  squalid  misery 
would  ensue. 

There  is  no  nuire  private  property.  Tn  its  place  comes  a 
sense  of  publico  duty  urging  each  luan  to  hibour.  Of  the  sulli- 
cient  strength  of  this  W(>  are  positivcdy  assu.v.l,  notwithstand- 
ing the  result  of  all  th.>  experiments  hitherto  tried.  locality 
peeps  out  when  we  are  told  that  those;  who  refuse  to  work  wiJl 
be  put  into  eonlineuuMit  on  bread  and  water.  This  is  some- 
thing like  a  reversion,  is  it  not,  to  the  coach  and  horses,  with 

4-1.,.    U  1.-1.        r  1  ,     "  n  11 


the  "lash  of  hunger"?     TI 


le  occasional  ne(u>.ssity  of  a,  " draft 


is  another  intiuKition  that  Nature,  though  you  thrust  her  out 


will 


The 


■esume  her  seat 
stimul 


more,  Avhen  the  niaint 


us  of  duty  to  the  man's   faiuilv  would  <>xist  i 


lO 


ol'f  his  hands  by  th<>  State.      For  the  1 


lenanceof  his  wile  and  children  was  taken 


for  the  hi-her,  tl 


ower  na,tures,  though  not 


H're  is  to  be  emulation,  which,  it  is  taken  1 


granted,  will  act  on  them  with  und 


or 


imiiiished  effect  when  all 


ii' 


HTOI'IAN    VISIONS. 


60 


the  .si.l),stai.tiul  |,n/,.,s  hjiv  hrni  ■•(mmovo.I  A.,  appojil  is  also 
i»H.l.-toHS(Mni-in,lit;.iy  M.„,s..  or  honciir,  and  tin,  <'.mnnunity 
IS  ()i-uiii.s()(l  as  a,ri  army,  witli  mili(,i,ry  titles,  apparently  |,u- 
<■'"<'  |.ul•,.os(^  l!ut  it  iu,,H  boon  shown,  in  ansmu-  to  other 
tlx'onsts  who  have  pointed  to  niiliti.ry  ho.u.ur  as  a  substit.ite 
lor  tlm  onlinary  motives  to  in.lnstry,  that  military  duty  is 
onioned  by  ;i  „od,.  or  ,,x(ieptionii,l  severity.  Kor  will  the  mili- 
tary lorms  and  names  iiave  mneh  jneanin-  or  be  lik(dy  to  ani- 
mate and  inspirit  when  war,  with  all  its  pride,  pomp,  and  eir- 
cumstanee,  lias  been  banished  from  the  earth. 

All  are  to  be  paid  alike,  on  tlu>  {.rinoiple  that  so  long  as 
you  do  your  best  your  deserts  ar(.  the  same  as  those  of  others 
thou-h  your  power  nuiy  not  be  so  great  as  theirs.      Your  de- 
Herts  in  the  eye  of  Heaven,  no  doubt,  are  the  same  if  you  do 
your  best;  ami  Heavtm  has   the   nu'ans  of  as,.ertaiuing  that 
your  best  IS  being  done.     Hut  if  it  is  asked  what  n.en,ns  a  board 
ot  industrial  veterans  ..r  their  lieutenants,  supposing  them  to 
bo  ever  .so  excellent  eraftsmen  themselves,  have  of  ascertain- 
lug  that  every  man  is  doing  his  best,  the  ansAver,  we  suspect, 
must  be  that  in  Utopia  su(di  ([uestious  are  not  to  be  raised' 
1 11  the  present  evil  world  most  men  do  their  best,  or  something 
like  their  best,  bet.iuse  they  have  to  make  their  own  living 
and  that  of  their  wives  and  children.    Some  men,  under  the 
voluntiuy  and  comp.'titivo  system,  put  forth  those  extraordi- 
nary efforts  which  make  the  world  move  on.     Ikit  the  State 
though  it  might  command  the  daily  amount  of  labour  by  threat 
ot  solitary  contimnnent  on  bread-and-water,  could   .  ot  com- 
maml  improvement  or  invention,     invention,  or  discovery   it 
•seinns  to  us,  would   be  little  encouraged  under  the  system 
since  no  man  is  to  be  allowed  to  shirk  lidxtur  on  pretence  of 
l)eing  a  student,  a  regulation  which  might  have  borne  hard  on 
Archimedes,  Newton,    -r   even  Watt.     Newton  would   at  all 
events  have  had,  in  obedience  to  an  inexorable  ruU",  to  pass 
three  years  as  a  common  labourer,  and  his  labour  during  those 
three   years  would   have  cost   the  world  uncommonly  dear 
Kvon  the  employment  of  Dr.  Leete,  the   good  ])hysician  of 
this   piece,    for   some  years  as   waiter   in   a  restaurant  was 


00 


(jlIKSriONS   OK    IIIK    DAY. 


l\ 


hi 


ratl.of  a  wisto  ..f   his,    ,.,.     u,  ,,„,ik   „„.,•.■   pn.iu'Hy,  ol'  tl.n 
Stutc  .s  t.iiiic. 

Mmvy  iiH  "it  ,„nt,  „r  rvil "  hus  I„.,.m  tofally  ,li.sca,f,|,.,|       Its 
vUicv  Ks  Uikvu  l.y  ,.,v,lit  oiinls,  «.,itif,liu^.  M„.  'hrimn;  hy  virtu.' 
ol    Ins   im>iv   Imn.anity,  t,.  a  sharr  „|'  U...  nat,i..„al   ,,nM|,„.,. 
Wiip-s  arc  a  tiuuK'  of  Mi.'  past.     Tl,.,  ....rtilicaU's  an-  1,„  1...  ,„•,'- 
sonl..'.l  at  tlu!  Kov.u-uim'ut  store,  Jor  i^im'riumml  i,s  tl...  univ.'r- 
sal    ,su|.|,l„.r   us    vv.'ll   us  tlio   iiniv.u'su!   .'i.ipN.y,.,-  ..f    lul.onr 
M..n.'.v,  it  is  sui.l,  may  liuv..  I...,.„   rra,u,l„l,.„tly  or  im|,rop..rly 
••l.taiM...!,  Imt  with  hihoiir  .H'rtifi.-at.'s  this  cu.iiDt  bo  tho  .uis.i. 
We  lumliy  s.-..  howu  }r..v.'rmn,'iit  stor.'-k.'.'p.-r  at  N.'w  Orl.'uns 
is  to  t.»ll  that  the  .•tu'tifuvit.!  was  not  Iraiuiuh-ntiy  ..htaiiu-.j'  at 
Jiost.)n.     J  low  .M.uhl  tUo.  tith>  t.)  it  l).^  vcrili.'.l  ii/lor.'i-Mi  .'om,- 
tries  whcMv,  w.,  ■,iyo.  tol.i,  by  int.M-nutional  urraiiK'.'m.'i.t  it  is  to 
bo  curr..nt?     Probably  in  this  as  in  oth.-r  .^o.ninunisticr  s.-Iumiu's 
th.-n-  IS  a  hirkiMj;  assumption  that  tli.'  nuMubcrs  of  tho  br..tlu'r- 
hcxxl  will  always  r^'maiu  in  th.-  sam.!  i.la.'.',  and  that  lifo  will 
thus  bo.!omo  stationary  as  w.'ll  as  .l.'v.)i<l  ..f  individual  aim 
Jiut  tho  woak  part  .)f  tho  arran^'onumt  betrays  itself  in  th."' 
necH'ssity  of  oontinuinK  to  use  tho  terms  .lollars  and  ..-nts 
Thoy  are   used  only,    wo   are   told,   as   "al^M.l)rai.•.  synd)oIs  " 
Siuvly  the  most  obvious  and  tlu^  safest  course  would  have  bo.-n 
to  dis.-ard  the  terms  altogether,  pregnant  us  thoy  were  with 
ovil  associations  and  likely  as  tlu-y  woul.l  bo  to  p.'rp.'tuat.'  th.- 
vuuous  desires  and  habits  of  tho  past.      Lot  anoth.-r  sot  of 
alg.d)raie  symbols  be  .lovisod,  and  let  us  se.^  how  it  will  work 
In  tho  ease  of  the  transition  from  tho  use  of  mon.^y  to  that  of 
labour  .!ertifioutes,  us  in  that  of  the  transition  fr.)m  ^.rivate 
eommerco  to  commerce  concentrated  in  tlie  hands  of  govorn- 
ni.'nt,  we  shoul.l  have  liked  to  be  present  when  the  l.Nip  was 
taken,  or  at  least  to  have  had  some  account  of  th.^  process 
especially  as  it  nnist  have  taken  place  ut  oiuio  over  the  whol.' 
civilised  world.     For  commerce,  we  huve  soon,  there  is  still 
to  be;  in  the  latitude  of  Boston  tho  Utopian  could  not  get  his 
wine  and  cigars  without  it. 

Law  as  a  profession  has  ceased  to  exist.     Of  course  where 
there  is  no  property  there  can  be  no  chancery  suits.     As  nine- 


Uroi'lAN    VISIONS. 


61 


<>l  tlio 


tPfln  twcMitiriliH  <.t'  ciitin'  ;iri,s(-  from  the  Ucsirf'  for  inorioy  ~ not, 
i'l'oiii  drink,  us  tlir  l'r<»hil»iti()iii,sts  pn-iciHl  — it  lullows  that  in 
K'<'ttinj,'  rid  u\'  uumvy  sw.'u'.iy  lias  ainiosi  mtircly  .t,'<»^  nd  of 
criiMo,  or  crini.',  in  i\w  pivscid,  sense  (.1  the  term,  indficd,  it 
has  got  rid  altogt^tlicr.  A  lew  vi(M,inis  of  "atavism"  ant  left 
as  a  sort  <»!'  trihnUi  to  n-idity,  l.ut  they  Kcncrully  savu  tim 
judiciary  tioulile  l.y  ph^ading  j^'uilty,  so  high  has  tho  regard 
lor  vinacity  heeonu!  even  in  the  minds  ol'  khiptomania(!S. 

Ill  tlie  preseid-  inipi-rlViit  stat(!  of  things,  the  distrihntion  of 
omploymiMits,  it  must  he  owned,  thougli  partly  a  matter  of 
choice,  is  largidy  a  matter  of   clianee,  and  cinMimstanec,  tho 
intelh'ctual  callings  going  to  those  who  have  the  means  of  a 
higher  c(huNition.     In   Utopia  it  will  hr.  eid,ircly  a  matter  (d' 
choice,  after  tdahorati!  testing  of  aptitmkis  and  tastes  nnder 
th(>  guidaiKM'  of  a  paternal  governnuMit.      It  is  assumed  that 
all  emph)yments  will  attract,  since  some  men,  after  deliberate 
survey  of  the  various  walks  of  life,  will  conveniently  choose 
to  bo  miners,    hod-inon,   "odourh'ss  ex(!avators,"  brakesmen, 
stokers,  or  saih)rs  on  tlie  North  Atlanti(!  passage.     Danger  is 
even  attracrtive.     Such  is  the  exuberance  of  pnblic  spirit  that 
the  government  lias  only  to  declare  an  employment  extra  haz- 
ar(h)us  and  a  rush  of  chivalrous  candidates  to  it  ensues.     A 
rush  might  rather  have  been  appreliemhid  into    the    lighter 
callings,  especially  that  of  poet.     Any  i-epugiiaiKie  to  a  partic- 
ular kind  of  labour  which  there  might  be,  will  be  conjured 
away  by  saying  that  all  kinds  of  labour  are  equally  honoura- 
ble.    Do  we  not  say  this  now?     Do  wc;  lujt  feel  this  now  much 
more  than  the  pessimist  admits?     Does  any  one  worthy  of  the 
name  of  a  gentleman  "  increase  tin;  burden  of  scu-vice  which  he 
imposes  "  on  his  household  by  adding  to  it  contem])t  ? 

Everybody  is  to  be  highly  educated  and  thoroughly  ndined. 
This  in  Utopia  will  not  interfere  with  the  disi)osition  for 
manual  labour,  nor  will  it  take  away  too  much  of  the  la- 
bourer's time.  One  question,  however,  occurs  to  us.  Tlie 
population  cannot  have  been  highly  educated  when  the  system 
was  first  introduced.  How  were  the  ignorant  and  unqualified 
masses  brought  to  take  part  in  its  introduction,  and  how  was 


)  I 


I:  i|> 


ru 


l\ 


;  )■ 


m  ^ 


62 


QU^]S'riONs  of  the  day. 


Its  operation  managed  before  tliey  had  been  educated  up  to  the 
proper  niai-kv  Tins  is  another  problem  of  the  transition,  the 
solution  of  whieh  remains  buried  in  the  seer's  magnetic 
sleep. 

The  relations  between  the  sexes  and  the  constitution  of  the 
family  are,  of  course,  to  be  revolutionised,  and  the  revolution 
has  so  tar  an  element  of  probability  that  it  follows  what  -ire 
supposed  to  be  ]?ostonian  lines.     The  women  are  to  be  organ- 
ised apart  from  the  men  as  a  distinct  interest,  under  a  -gen- 
eral    of  their  own  who  has  a  seat  in  the  cabinet.     They  would 
do  quite  enough  for  society,  they  are  gallantly  told,  if  thev 
occupied   themselves   only  in   the  cultivation   of  their  own 
charms  and  graces;  women  without  any  special  charms  and 
graces   ov.t  those  which  belong  to  the  performance  c,f  their 
womanly  duties  as  wives  and  mothers  being  creatures  here 
unknown.     However,  for  the  sake  of  their  health  and  to  sat- 
isfy tlieir  feelings  of  independence,  they  are  to  do  a  very  mod- 
erate amount  of  work.     They  have  in  fact  little  else  to  do 
Ihey  have  n,.  household  cares,  as  the  State  is  universal  cook' 
housemaid,  laundress,  seamstress,  an. I  nurse;  and  "a  husband 
IS  not  a  baby  that  he  should  be  cared  for. "     Maternity,  thouirh 
recognised,  is  thrown  into  the  background.     It  is  an  interlude 
in  the  woman's  industrial  and  social  life,  and  as  soon  as  it  is 
over  the  mother  returns  to  her  "comrades."  leaving  her  child 
apparently,  to  that  universal  providence,  the  State.    Hitherto' 
It  seems,  men,  like  -cruel  robbers,"  have  "seized  to  them- 
selves the  whole  product  of  the  world  an,l  left  women  to  be<^ 
and  wheedle  for  their  share."     ]Jy  whose  labour  the  earth  has 
l)een  made  to  yield  its  fruits  for  the  beneht  of  both  sexes   we 
are  not  told.     However,  "that  any  person  should  be  depend- 
ent   or  the  means  of  support  upon  another  would  be  shockin-^ 
to  the  moral  sense  as  well  as  in.lefensible  on  any  rational 
social  theory."     Women  in  the  perfect  commonwealth,  there- 
fore, are  no  longer  left  in  "galling  dependence"  upon  their 
husbands  for  the  means  of  life,  or  children  upon  their  parents. 
Both  wife  and  child  are  mainutinc.!  by  the  agency  of  the  State, 
so  that  the  wife  no  longer  owes  anything  to  her  husband,  and 


UTOPIAN   VISIONS. 


63 


the 


we 


the  olnld  IS  at  liberty,  as  nature  dictates,  to  snap  its  finders 
in  he  laces  of  its  parents.  J)oes  the  State  give  suck,  and 
IS  the  baby  no  longer  iguoniiniously  beholden  to  its  nu^ther  for 
milk.''  Is  not  tlie  government  eon.posed  of  persons'/  Wiiy  is 
dependence  upon  the  persons  installed  at  Washington  less 
ignonnnious  than  dependence  upon  a  liusband,  a  father,  or  a 
mother.^  lo  some,  dependence  on  the  government  might  seein 
the  most  galling  of  all. 

False  delicacy  is  put  out  of  tlie  u.ty,  and  the  women  are 
allowed  to  propose.     They  ''  sit  aloft "  on  the  top  of  the  coach, 
giving  the  prizes  for  tlie  industrial  n..e,  and  select  only  tlie 
best  and  noblest  men  for  their  husbands.     Ill-favoured  men  of 
inferior  type,  and  laggards,  will  be  condemned  to  celibacy 
t  rom  them  the  "  radiant  faces  "  will  be  averted.     These  Irin- 
ess  persons  are  treated  with  a  marked  absence,  to  say  ihe 
east  of  the  philanthropy  which  overflows  upon  criminals  and 
unatics,  though  it  seems  tliat  the  plea  of  atavism  should  not 
be  less  valid  in  their  case.     Has  Dr.  Leete,  when  he  denies 
them  marriage,  found  a  way  of  extinguishing  their  passions'^ 
It  Jie  lias  not,  what  moral  results  does  he  expect'^    He  will 
ans^ver  perhaps  by  an  appeal  to  what  may  be  called  the  occult 
we,     that  mysterious   power  which,  in    Utopia,  is  present 
t^irougliout  to  solve  all  difficulties  and  banish  every  doubt 
Nothing  can  be  more  divine  than  the  picture  whicli  I)r  Leete 
presents  to  us;  but  we  look  at  ifc  with  a  secret  misgiving  that 
his  community  would  be  in  some  danger  of  being  tlirust  out  of 
existence  by  some  barbarous  horde,  which  honoured  virtiu>  an<l 
admired  excellence  in  both  sexes  without  giving  itself  over  to 
a  slavish  and  fatuous  worship  of  either,  held  men  and  women 
alike  to  their  proper  duties,  and  obeyed  the  laws  of  Nature 

The  government  is  tlie  universal  publisher,  and  is  bound  to 
publish  everything  brought  to  it,  but  on  condition  that  the 
author  pay  the  lirst  cost  out  of  his  «  credit. "  How  the  author 
while  preparing  himself  to  wri^.  "Paradise  Lost,"  or  the 
Inncipia,"  is  to  earn  a  labour  credit,  we  hardly  see.  Uto- 
pian literature  is  of  course  divine.  To  read  one  of  P.errian's 
novels  or  one  of  Gates's  poems  is  worth  a  year  of  one's  life 


u 


64 


QUESTIONS   OF   THE   DAY. 


t  m 


fii 


\U 


Would  that  we  had  a  specimen  of  either!  We  should  then  be 
able  to  see  Jiow  far  it  transcended  Shakespeare  or  Scott  For 
love  stories,  we  are  told,  there  will  be  material  in  plenty  and 
of  a  much  higher  quality  than  there  was  in  the  days  of  coarse 
and  stormy  passion.  The  actual  love  affair  that  takes  place  in 
Looking  Backward  "  certainly  does  not  remind  us  of  "Eomeo 
and  Juliet."  Of  the  pulpit  elo.iuence  we  have  a  specimen, 
and  It  IS  startlingly  like  that  of  our  own  century.  One  great 
improvement,  however,  tliere  isj  the  preaching  is  by  telephone 
and  you  can  shut  it  off. 

The  physical  arrangements  are  carried  to  millenarian  per- 
fection.    Instead  of  a  multitude  of  separate  umbrellas,  one 
common  umbrella  is  put  up  by  the  State  over  Boston  when  it 
rains.     These  visions  of  a  material  heaven  on  earth  naturally 
arise  as  the  hope  of  a  spiritual  heaven  fades  away.     A  material 
heaven  on  earth  it  is.     The  arrangements  for  shopping,  like 
everytlimg  else,  are  divine.     The  whole  community  is  con- 
verted into  one  vast   Wliiteley's  or  Wanamaker's  establisli- 
ment.     Public  bauds  are  playing  seraphic  music  through  the 
whole  twenty-four  hours,  and  you  turn  on  the  piece  you  like 
by  telephone.     I'ublic  buildings  are  palaces,  and  their  equip- 
ment IS  a  paragon  of  luxury.     We  only  wonder  how  the  un- 
speakable privileges  of  tlie  city  can  be  extended  to  the  country 
and  who  will  be  contented  to  stay  in  the  country  if  they  are 
not.     The  American  dream  is  of  city  life. 

Let  the  material  happiness  of  Mr.  Lellamy's  Utopians  be 
as  perfect  and  brilliant  as  it  will,  suppose  every  sliadow  of 
economical  evil  to  have  vanished,  tlicre  is  one  shacbw  that  will 
not  away.  It  is  signified  that  at  a  man's  decease  the  State 
allows  a  fixed  sum  for  his  funeral  expenses.  Tliis  is  the  only 
intimation  that  over  the  material  I'aradise  hovers  Death. 

A  vista  of  illimitable  progress,  jirogress  so  glorious  that 
It  dazzles  the  prophetic  eye,  is  said  all  the  time  to  be  opened. 
But  how  can  there  be  progress  beyond  perfection?  Finality 
IS  the  trap  into  which  all  Utopian  fan.,y  falls.  Comte,  after 
tracing  the  movement  of  humanity  through  tlie  ages  down 
to  his  own  time,  undertakes  by  his  supreme  intelligence  to 


iiii 
'if" 


iifi 


UTOPIAN    VISIONS 

65 

with  a  v.n.,«°n  ,       tZ,      '  T  ''", ""'  '''"""  ""  "''^  """W  '« 

give   birth  to  ,.,.„i.,;i    ',°,  ':"'""' ■"J-*™.  """Id  soon 

struct,,,-.,  to  piocos!  '  """"''  """'''  ''^'»''  "'«  "I'ole 

It  may  s,.,.„,  that  wo  ii,-c  Lniiltv  of  •,  ,,  ,-,    ,     ■ 
criticising  a  oo„,,x«itio„  the     ,tL,';    '',","'"  '"  '''™""'^ 

passages,  Ave  roi,e'.t  t,.ll   „i  -i    \,^^-     ''"<^  tlie  destructive 

-  it  i.  'tone  oTby        'It  o  "  "■;""™'""  '""'''  '''  »""" 
iuauc.  ■^  »"  "'  cnticis,,,,  vanishes  into  tl,o 


'■i 


Ih 


1. 


TllK   (iUKSTION    01^^   1  .SJOTABJ.ISIIMKNT 


sj®r^ 


M 


a 


w 


i  I 


se 
tl] 
CI 
it 
di 
if 
ga 
of 
til 
fo 
lia 


wt 

It 

mc 

aiK 


THE   QUESTION   OF  DISESTABLISHMENT. 

_    UisKSTABLisjiMicNT  of  tlie  Cluirch  ill  EiigUiiul  and  Scotland 
IS    a   question    evidently   at   luiiid.      It   is    a   subject    to   be 
approached  not  only  by  every  religious  luan,  but  by  every 
statesman,  witli  tenderness  and  (,are.     The  village  church  in 
which  'Hhe  kneeling  hamlet  drains  the  chalice  of  the  -rapes 
of  God,"  with  its  altar  at  wbieh  the  pi^ople  of  tlie  parish  have 
been  married,  its  font  at  which  they  were  christened,  and  its 
eliurchyard   in   whicli    their   forefathers  sleep,  has   been  the 
great  feature  not  only  of  rural  landscape  but  of  rural  life 
1  he  Rectory,  if  its  occupant  did  his  duty,  has  been  the  centre 
of    rural   civilisation,    education,   and    benevolence.      It   has 
probably  done  more  in  this  way  than  the  Kail.     The  reli-ious 
sentiment  and  poetry  of  the  nation  have  had  their  centre  in 
the  Cathedral,      [n  Scotland,  if  the  aspect  of  the  Established 
Church  is  less  picturesque,  the  attachment  of  the  people  to 
It  and  the  connection  of  their  spiritual  life  with  it,  in  spite  of 
disniption  are  still  stronger.     It  would  be  a  great  misfortune 
It  the  problem  were  left  to  I)e  settled  by  facti.m,  and  political 
gamblers  were  allowed  to  use  Disestablishment  :ih  the  mears 
of  loading^ their  dice.    To  tell  a  great  religious  community  that 
lie  churches  in  which  it  Ims  worshi])ped  for  ages  shall  hence- 
orth  be  deemed    "national    monuments,"  and   that   it  shall 
have  the  use  of  th.mi  on  application  to  n,  Commission,  is  surely 
apiece  of  Jacobinism  as  unstat.^smanlike  as  it  is  unfeelin-. 
ihat   tliere   is  a  current   almost   tliroughout  the  civilise°d 
world  setting  towards  Disestablishment  can  hardly  be  denied 
It  is  true  that,  as  we  hiive  been  bidden  to  observe,  in  every 
monarchical  country  of  Europe  the  Church  is  still  established 
and  endowed,  while  in  some,  as  in  Austria  and  in  Russia,  it 

GO 


70 


QUKSTIONS  OK   THE    DAY. 


t  h 


M 


f 


is  still  in  a  high  degree  endowed,  even  monasteries  being  left 
with  their  estates.     Almost  everywhen;  there 


ire  Ministries 


oi'  I'ublie  Worship.     Even  republican  France  has  her  ]<:stab 


lished  Churcl 


•;  subsidised  by  the  State.     TJ 


lis  is  tru(f,  and  it 


is  true  that  in  republican  Switzerland  there  is  still  a  Cantonal 
tliough  not  a  Federal,  connection  of  tiie  State  with  the  Church 


J  Jut 


on  what  sort  of  footing  is  the  Church  in  tl 


le  more  advanced 


countries  now  established  and  eiulowed,  compared  with  the 
looting  on  wiiich  she  was  established  and  endowed  in  the  old 
Catholic   days?    No   longer  half   mistress  of  the   realm,   or 
forming  a  great  estate  of  it,  she  has  sunk  into  a  pensioner,  and 
a  not  very  beloved  or  honoured  pensioner,  of  the  government 
111  France,  once  the  realm  of  her  eldest  son,  where  a  century 
aud  a  half  ago  she  could  ],ut  men  to  death  for  offences  against 
her,  slio  no".  shares  lier  dole,  not  only  with  heretics  but  witli 
Jews,  whi'e  in  the  French  proviM(!e  of  Algeria  she  shares  it 
witii  I\russul'nans.     In  the  land  of  Philip  the  Second,  though 
ahuost  the  whole  i)opii]ation  still  professes  his  creed,  her  i)oIi- 
tion  IS  hardly  higher  or  more  secure  than  in  the  land  of  Louis 
the  Fourteentli.     There,  too,  instead  of  dominating,  she  is  a 
creature  of  the  gov(>rnment,  her  enormous  property  has  been 
secularised,  and  she  has  become  a  paid  servant  of  the  State. 
Education,  the  key  of  social  character  and  iuHuenct^,  has  been 
generally  wrested  out  of  her  hands.     Marriage,  also,  has  been 
generally  transferred  from  her  domain  to  that  of  the  magis- 
trate.    To  take  an  instance  from  the  I'rotestant  side,  how  givat 
is  the  change  in  tlie  relation  of  the  Church  generally  to  tlie 
State  since  the  days  in  whicli  Calvin  was  dictator!     If  in 
Austria  and  ilussia  the  process  is  not  so  far  advanced,  it  is 
because  they  are  behind  the  other  nations  in  tlie  general  race. 
The  liepublies  are  the  last  birtli  of  Time,  they  are  the  leading 
shoots  of  political  growth,  and  in  them  the  connection  between 
Cluirch  and  State  is  weakest.     All  the  footprints  point  the 
same  way.     The  only  ap])arent   exception  is  the  restoration 
of  the   Established    Church   of   France   by   Napoleon.      The 
violence  of  the  extreme  revolutionary  party  had  for  the  time 
outrun  jiopulav  conviction,  and  tlius  a  reactionary  despot  was 


u: 


THE   QUESTION  OF    DISESTABLISHMENT. 


71 


enabled  to  take  a  step  bacikwanl,  and  by  his  fiat  reinstate  an 
institution  of  the  past,  lint  how  altered  was  that  institution 
111  Its  estate  and  in  its  relation  to  the  govcnunent  from  tlie 
Kstabhshed  Cluireh  of  the  Uonrbons!  Even  Ministries  of 
I'nbhe  Worship,  where  they  ."xist,  are  signs  that  the  Church 
has  booonie  a  subordinate  department  of  the  State,  losing  her 
indei)endence  and  witii  it  u  part  of  her  sanetity. 

The   Papacy    itself,    once    the    su[.reniely   established   and 
imperially  endowed  Church  of  Catholic  Europe,  has   it  not 
been  both  disestablished  and  disendowed;'     Its  ciiief  is  now 
the  "prisoner  of  the  Vatican,"  subsisting  on  the  alms  of  the 
faithful  and  hopelessly  protesting  against  the  abolition  of  his 
t(miporal  power.     It  is  true  his  spiritual  power  over  the  people 
has  l)et'n  increased  by  becoming  purely  si)iritual,  and  by  the 
concentration   upon   him   of  tlie   allegiam^e  of   the   Catholic 
Churches  which,  liaving  lost  the  sui.port  of  the  national  gov- 
ernments, now  look  to  their  ecclesiastical  chief  alone.     This 
is  a  fact  suggestive  of  caution  to  the  statesman,  while  it  is 
reassuring  to  the  oluirchman;  but  it  does  not  aifect  our  esti- 
mate of  the  situation. 

Supporttirs  of  Establishment  bid  us  observe  that  in  all  the 
South  American    ]tepubli.^s  excei.t  Mexico  tliere    is   still  an 
Establislied  Ciuiich.     To  Mexico  must  now  be  added  Brazil, 
which,  since  it  has  cast  off  monarchy,  has  separated  the  Church 
from  the  State  and  placed  all  religions  on  a  footing  of  (npiality 
13ut  Mexico  is  a  striking  exception.     So  late  as  l81o  there  was 
an  aufo  tkife  where  now  no  religious  procession  can  take  place, 
no  priest  even  can  a])]K'ar  publicly  in  his  priestly  garments! 
In    till!   other    Republics,    however,   the;    connecti(m'   between 
Churcli  and  State,  though  it  subsists,  is  greatly  altered,  and 
the  position  of  the  Church  is  far  different,  both  in  regard  to 
establishment  and  in  regard  to  endowment,  from  what^'it  was 
in   Spanish   times.     The   priest   lias   lost  his   [wliticiil   hold. 
Smdi  hold  as  he  still  has   ho  owes,  not  to  the  tendency  of 
modern   civilisation,   but   to   the    lingering   iiiHuence   of   the 
i(digi(ms  despotism  of  old  Spain. 

In  all  tlie  countri(>s  there  is  likely  to  be  a  halt  and  a  breath- 


72 


t^UKSTIoN 


«    '»!.'   TIIK    DAV 


M 


•>K  tiiiKi  ;iri(.i-  a  jfrcal,  ol 


Sl,a(,( 


with   rcdiKU'd  re 


IH  naturally  I'ollowcd  I 


''■i"RH.     Tlu,  „ni„n  of  ChuvvM  and 


v<'mu's,  and  UiUi.it 


'.y  a  |,(.ri()d  „r  h;,,|r  Kstahlislu.KM.t 


<'".l.nvn...nl,orallortlinnialik,.,an,l  AI 


'on  of  all  creed; 


';  jXM'liaps 


'"!••      I'lil    1,1:.,  shad 


"iiHtnes  of  l'id)li(;  \V, 


nioven 


«^W    will    jr,,    |,:i,,|^    „„     1^,,,,    ^ij.^j    ^^j 


or- 


"■"'■''••••"   '•••I'^'ionsprivilego  towards  rel 


IS  reversed.      \V|,;it  is  tl 


Stat( 


',    wliereliy    .-(overnnient   de(d 


"'  ««'veran(H,  of  tlu,  Chnn^li  IVoni  tl 


ii'n    the 


•KiouM  (winality 


It) 


niattiM's  (d'  opinion,    hut  tl 


«n«|niry  which,  while  oti 


ar(!s   ds  entire  neutrality  in 
"'   '•<'<'<>KnitioM   of   that   Ireedoni  of 


still 


''""'•"""'  *"•  <'l'«'(in(Mvd,  is  the  (d 


"''■  'vsidts  of  |.(ditic:i,l  revcdut 


ion  aro 


oi  our  mod, Mil  civilisaXioii?     1 


'  rec 


se 


Of 


'M'"ll«MIS     IS     hedjr,,,!    ,,,1,„„,,    ^^.j,,,    .„,,.,i,.i.^| 


<'!ir  a,iid  iiK'stiiiiahlo  «,'ain 
•  <»|''"ioii   is  not,  while  one 


l"''>l'aL;ate,|  at  the  .'xpense  of  the  vv.sl.      | 


n^ld.  in  itseir,  will  h,.  not 


m^,' instil iition,  i*  will 


'iii'ivly  the  (h'striK'tion  of 


ntvertMice  and 
>is(\stal)lishnient,  if 


oi 


!.nit 


,1,'ive  lull  ploy  (,,,  1,1, 


itii  exist- 


Th 
Nort 


'  wliK'li  we  trust  will  build  tl 


constriictivo  aj^'eiuy 


'.V  :iiv  iuista,ken  who  tell  us  tl 


"'  niansicui  of  the  futim 


h  A 


inern^i  there  never 


i:d'   in   the  coi 


niiiiiniti 


es  o 


f 


:ind  State,  and  thertdore  ti 


s'nictioii.      The  truth  is  thai 
''"'•"'X'i'I.V  was  a,  connection. 


\v;is  a  connection  between  (JhurctU 
"'■;•'  •'■•'"   I"'  no  teiuhiiKiy  to  its  du- 


'"  most  of  the  old  ro] 


In  V 


on  it's  there 


li'nd   was  established,  till   rel 


ii'i,nnia  the  Church  of  Ji 


ntr 


deli 


liition 
I. 


••'•■^on  and  Ma.di.son,  followed  in  t 


',^Ions  ('(piality,  (dianipioned  by 


In  M 


iss, 


lel 


CK 


Misetts  and  Conuecticiit  tl 


no  wake  of  political  revo- 


)S'".  as  III   Alassa..hu.s,>tts  the  Qnak.'rs   found 


10  (!oiint>ction  was 


lor  was  it  dissolved  witl 


loiil.  a,  strii!>i--l( 


t( 


In  Mi 


>  their  cost. 


fi     1  •,    .    ,  ''"'.^.H"--      in  i>lassai^liiisetts 

tu.l.W|„„v„,.,lr„MI, ..■...,„.,.  „!■  ,„i„iA.,..s  .H  »   I      ; 

"I  »l.....l».  ..,,,1  l„,.  M...  |,„„i.si,„„.nt  „r  ,vl,,iou«  om,  cos     ,:, 
-I-  untv  .,,,,  ,,is,.,.,,,.,|  .,■,,,,.  .S.,,,„,,l,:     ,.V„.al.:^       „ 

""  '■"'""■"'  f''""'^'"«"  "as ii„,.,i ,,,  ti,.,s,.  wi,.,  ,,„,„  i",  ;^ 

Ull.      I  ,,..,■„,,«„,„    „,„„    U„.  ,,,.,,,.,,,1  ,...urt,u,„l..v,.,.y,.iti.. 
'•"    •'■^  ll-.>    iuul  .„y   r,..l   ,.xist,.,u,..  „■,.,,.   l.,,iHh„ ,„„i,„f 


!     ' 


TIIK    QIIKHTION    OK    DIWKSTAIU.ISIIMKNT. 


78 


sin,  which    iiupljcs   jiii    idcntilicutioii   of   ti 
i'(!(!h(.si;i.stin!il  puwv.v.     Nothiiij,'  of  1,1 


i(!   (iivil   with  thn 
i(!  ('(miH'i'i'um  now  roniains 


<!X«!((|»t  t,h(!  SiiiKhiy  hiw,  of  whi(;h  sonu!  ;i-rn(>.sti 

ihiHH'A-.d'u:;  i'(!.str;iin(,s  on  hhisiihiwiious  i)iil)li(!:iti()ns,  wliich  ar 


cs  fioniidiuu  ;iH 


iiH  miK 


h  (li(;tiit<M!  |jy  rcjriii'd  lor  ({(.(toiKjy  jiiid  I'or  ih(!  piihlic, 
IH'iKM'  ;is  hy  n'},';inl  I'or  n'li«<ioii;  tho  cxcnipiion  of  (Jhundii'S 
Ironi  nimii(!i|)!i,l  t:i\:il,ioii;  ;iiul  a  v(M-y  slight,  ndinioiis  (diMiicnt 
in  the  l,t':i,(ihiiig  oi'  the,  |)iil)li(',  schools,  not,  so  uuuth  vui'uiVA'd 
hy  thi!  Stiiti!  as  ^'((nisriiHv  di!inan(h'(l  by  \ni\>\'u;  Itudin.t,'.  TIk! 
('X(nnplion  oT  (Minrch  projxn-ty  from  taxation  oxttMids  to  the 
I>ro|)t'ity  of  all  CJhurchc.s  alilu^,  nor  is  it  probaido  that  it  will 
(H)id.inii('  hMiuj. 

ess  ol'  tho  United  States  is  expressly  forbidden  by 


'Vlu'.i 


ontri 


th((  lirst  Amendment  ol'  tlu;  Constitution   to  estahlisl 
lii^ion.     Tliere  an;  sonnt  who  w(»nld    iilu!   t 


(yonstitutio 


I  any  re- 
o    insert    into   tlu! 


n   ;i.   HMioLin 


ition    ol'   the    Deity,    but   this    proposal 
makes  no  way.     Congress  has  a,  chaplain  and   is  opened  with 

<)  any  parti(!ular 
es  annually  pro- 


prayer,  but  th(^  (ihaplaiiK^   is  not  (U)nlined  t 
Chnndi.     Tiie   I'resiih-nt  of  the    United  Stat 


claims 


a,   "national    tiia,nks,i,Mving  day,"  and   has  somet 


nnes 


pro(daimed  a  fast,  in  (compliance,  howc^ver,  with  national  sen- 
timent, a,nd  without  power  of  (inforcenu-nt.  Tliis  is  mani- 
festly an  aiuMJUit  system  att<Miuated  to  vanishing  point. 

hi  French  Canada,,  the  lloinan  Catholic,  Cliiirch  retains  its 
r(ivenues  in  virtue  of  an  article  in  the  treaty  of  (iession,  but  it 
l(cvies  titnc^s  only  on  its  own  members.  The  authority  vested 
in  tlie  l)isliops  for  the  regulation  of  jKirishes  draws  with  it, 
though  indirectly,  a,  certain  amount  of  higal  jjower  in  muni- 
cipal a,lfa,irs.  Hut  tiuf  politicial  iuHuence  which  makes  it  more 
powerful  in  the  province  than  any  establishment  could  be,  is 
entirely  beyond  the  law. 

In  British  Canada,  the  Church  was  originally  established; 
res(n'vt\s  of  hind  were  set  a,pa,rt  I'or  its  ministers,  the  university 
was  conlined  to  its  numdicrs,  and  its  bishop  had  a  seat  in  the 
Council.  Uut  as  soon  as  the  (iolony  obtained  self-government 
I)isesta,blishm(>nt  ensued;  the  (dergy  reserves  were  secularised, 
and  tlie  university  was  thrown  open  to  students  of  all  reli- 


IMAGE  EVALUATION 
TEST  TARGET  (MT-3) 


7 


^ 


S? 


// 


,% 


is. 


/ 


* 


1.0 


I.I 


S   Ifi    110 


L25  i  1.4 


1.6 


VI 


# 


/J 


/ 


'-P 


^)illC 

Scieices 
Corporation 


23  WEST  MAIN  STREET 

WEBSTER,  N.Y.  14580 

(716)  873-4503 


4^ 


^ 


4^ 


<> 


k 


6^ 


^ 


^ 


lb'- 


.% 


S 


k 


c^ 


V 


74 


QUESTIONS   OF  THE   DAY. 


'U 


\h 


n. 

t  ,1 


i 


.m ive  sity  of  then-  own.  A  tan.t  oiloui-  of  departed  pi-ivile™ 
St  11  clmgs  to  what  was  once  the  State  Church,  clei-Rvn.en  S 
which  now  and  then  allow  it  to  be  felt  that  they  erd  the 
members  oi  other  Churches  as  Dissenters,  while  the  Wll™ 
nnhke  those  in  the  United  .States,  retain  ke  title  of  ■  ted -^ 
Of  the  endowments,  there  remain  about  forty  rectories  which 

0  renZ  t,™'  "'■  "'  "'"^-'^  ""'''■™»  "^'"'^  secnlarisai  n 

Cta        and  StTf  ""  '"'  "■T  "'  *'"  ''™"^««-  between 
Church  and  State  m  nominally  monarchical  Canada,  savin.- 

Not  only  does  religious  equality  in  all  material  respects 
prevad  m    he  United  States  and  in  Jiritish  Canada,  but 

1  thoroughly  accepted  by  everybody,    and  by  the  immele 
2onty  prized  ami  lauded  as  an  organic  prLipIe  of  Z 
World  CIV.  isation.     I„  British  Canada,  a  few  Anglicans  mav 
perhaps  look  back  wistfully  to  the  days  of  the  clergy  r™ 

throw  w"nr"°""/'""'  "'  *""  ^«- World  aslvst 
that  his  Church  ought  everywhere  to  be  established,  and  that 
government  ought  to  use  its  power  for  hep  suunor       Kit 
the  New  World  the  pocket  is'  very  deep,ld  E  '  see'    '  ml 
disposition  to  draw  forth  the  missive.      In  fact  we  hear  It 
sonie  of  the  chiefs  of  the  Koman  Catholic  cl     h  avo  '  a 
preference  for  the  free  system.     In  Ontario,  and  in  MaXba 
the  Koinaii  Catholics  liave  hitherto  retained  the  priv  1    erf 
eparate  schools,  which,  however,  they  owe,  not  tl  Canadian 
bu    to    mperial  legislation.     I„  Manitoba  they  have  come' 
and  in  Ontario  they  are  likely  to  come,  into  collfsion  with  tTe 
commonwealth  on  this  question.     Hut  the  privilege,  thoi^ 
.  i,tate  favour  is  in  the  line,  not  of  connection  but  of  sepa^ 
tion.     The  tribute  in  the  shape  of  public  subsidies  wh  c    tl?e 

m  States  of  the  Union  where  there  is  a  large  Irisl,  vote  i, 

paid,  not  111  the  name  of  religion    but  i„  ?l,.,f    7  ,      . 
rpi.„,     .  ,  ^.^ii„ioii,  nut  in  tliat  or  (diaritv 

of";;,-  ;r,:: '''"'" ''''"-'  ='-'-'  -^  -^  --"■'•™  - 


IS 


THE   QUESTION  OF   DISESTABLISHMENT. 


75 


The  property  of  the  American  CJiurches,  and  the  legal  rights 
attached  to  nienibersliip  of  them  or  to  their  offices,  are,  of 
course,  in  the  keeping  of  the  civil  law.  This  has  been  adduced 
as  proof  of  the  present  existence  in  America  of  a  connection 
between  the  State  and  the  Church.  But  the  same  reasoning 
would  establish  the  existence  of  a  connection  between  the 
State  and  tlie  Society  of  Freemasons  or  tlie  Jockey  Club. 

TJie  case  in  favour  of  Disestablislunent  in  Irehmd  was  par- 
ticularly strong,  and  the  cause  of  the  State  Churcli  was 
weighted  with  a  painful  history.  Yet  the  defence  was  able 
to  show  that  the  general  principle  was  involved,  and  that  the 
shafts  of  the  assailants  glanced  logically  from  the  Irish  to 
the  English  Establishment,  while  they  almost  struck  full  on 
the  Establishment  in  Wales.  Let  it  be  observed,  too,  that 
nobody  thought  of  transferring  the  privilege  and  the  endow- 
ment from  the  Churcli  of  the  minority  to  that  of  tlie  majority; 
while  concurrent  endowment,  though  it  had  much  to  recom- 
mend it  from  a  political  point  of  view,  was  proposed  only  to 
be  decisively  rejected. 

What  proof  of  the  drift  of  things  can  be  stronger  than  the 
career  of  Mr.  Gladstone?  He  who  bestowed  on  Ireland  reli- 
gious equality,  had  once  seceded  from  a  government  because 
it  broke  the  principle  of  a  State  religion  by  proposing  a  small 
additional  grant  to  Maynooth.  Once  he  wrote  a  treatise  on 
the  relation  between  Church  and  State  in  which,  soaring  above 
the  ordinary  arguments  derived  from  the  usefulness  of  religion 
to  the  commonwealth  in  sustaining  public  morality,  he  main- 
tained that  the  nation,  like  the  individual,  had  a  conscience 
which  bound  it  to  choose,  support,  and  propagate  the  true 
faith.  He  wished  nobody  to  hold  civil  office  or  exercise 
political  power  who  did  not  belong  to  the  State  Church.  The 
members  of  his  government  were  to  be  "worshipping  men," 
and  were  to  sanctify  their  administrative  acts  by  prayer  and 
praise.  Now  he  is  ready  to  abolish  the  Establislied  Church  in 
Wales,  provided  the  Welsh  will  vote  for  his  Irish  Bill,  and  to 
put  the  whole  question  of  Disestablishment  to  the  vote.  Had 
he  remained  in  office  to  bring  forwaid  Welsh  Disestablish- 


'M 


it' 


Mt'\ 


'I 


>  ! 


""  QMKSriONS   OF    rilK    DAY. 

mont,  it  wor.hl  I.a,ve  been  curious  t„  see  him  face  his  former 

Ma,(.tuhiy,  in  Lis  review  of  Mr.  Gla.lstoT.e's  .,,ay,  h:ul  no 
.l.th.ulty  m  sl.owu,,^  H.itt  soveruments  are  meant  to  govern 
not  to  settle  theok.gi.ul  questions,  and  tl.at  if  no  power  was 
to  be  exercised  exeept  upon  Church  principles,  nu.oh  incon- 
venience, to  which    he    might   iKtve   added   much    hypocrisy 
wouh   ensue      He  had  no  <lilh.ulty  in  dissolving  tlfe  ingen'- 
xn.s,  bu     unhistoncal,  hypotliesis  of   a    restrictive  treaty  by 
whmh  the  author  of  the  essay  tried  to  escape  the  awkward 
consequences  of  an  application  of  its  principles  to  the  Imlian 
Empire.     He  had  no   dilHculty  in    showing  that  sucli  haif 
measures  of  persecution  as  the  application  of  civil  disabilities 
were  at  once  unjust  and  futile.     He  might  almost  have  con- 
tented himsel    with  saying  that  only  a  person  could  have  a 
cmscience   and  that  the  personality  of  the  nation  was  a  iig- 
ont.     Lut  when  he  comes,  as  an  orthodox  Whig,  to  propouiul 
Ins  own  defence  of  a  Church  Establishment,  sayin.'  that  he 
will  give  Mr.  (Iladstone  his  revenge,  he  does  give  Mr   G,'- 
stone  his  revenge  indeed.     His  own  theory  i^,  in  reality   ^s 
untenable  as  that  over  which  he  has  been';n^;  ng1^  ^^ 
though  brilliant  triumph.     An  institution,  he  sayl,  besides    1  c 
pnmary  object  for  which  it  is  intended,  may  servVa  secondary 
bjoct,  just  as  a  hospital  intended  for  the  accommodation  of 
the  sick  may  also  serve,  by  its  architectural   beauty,  as   an 
ornament  to  the  public  street.     Government  is  meant  to  take 
care  of  our  temporal  interests,  and  i.  ^n-oi,erly  fitted  for  that 
purpose  alone;  but  if  that  is  not  employment  enough  for  it 
It  may   as  a  sort  of  by-play,  take  to  providing  for  our  spirit- 
ual interests  as  well.     A  singular  sort  of  by-pLay,  sure  y   it 
would   be.     The  appearance  of  a  building  belong^  to  li^hl- 
tecture  as  properly  as  its  arrangement.     Encouragement   of 
art  oy  a  political  government,    which   Macaulay  adduces  as 
another  illustration,  is  not  less  beside  the  mark,  since  it  is  art 
in  general  that  government  encourages,  not  a  particular  school 
of  artists.      Ihe  civil  ruler  in  establisliing  a  religion  need  not, 
Macaulay  says,  decide  which  religion  is  true,  but  only  which 


THE    QITESTION   OK    DISKSTAIJI.ISMMENT. 


77 


is  best  lor  his  pmctical  purposos;    lie  will  givo  tli<"  Scotcli 
Preshytenuni.sni,  thou-li    he    may    himself   be   an    Anglican, 
because  Tresbyterianism,  though  not  the  most  true,  may  be 
best  suited  for  the  Scotch.     lint  what  is  his  criterion?     Is  he 
to  assume  that  tile  religion  of  the  majority  is  the  best?     He 
helps  to  secure  to  the  privileged  religion  a  majority  by  estab- 
lishing It,  and  thus  vitiates  his  own  test,      besides,  how  is  he 
to  measure  and  provide  lor  changes  of  conviction,  such  as  in 
the  course  of  impiiiy  may  take  ]da.;e?     Suppose  he  ha.l  been 
called  upon   to  legislate  in  the  period  of  the  Kelormation, 
when  the  majority  was  shifting  from  day  to  day.     Nov  does 
Macaulay  wholly  escape  the  charge,  which  he  brings  against 
Mr.  (Gladstone,  of  feeble  and  iiuiffective  persecution,  'it  is 
a  kind  of  persecution,  though  a  very  leelile  and  ineffective 
kind,  to  compel  the  minority  to  contributii  to  the  sui.port  of  a 
religion  which  they  believe  to  be  'alse,  perhaps  destructive  of 
souls,  and  to  degrade  their  ministers  by  excln-ion  fi'om  tlu;  rank 
and  privilege  which  those  of  the  J<:st;i,l)lished  Chunih  enjoy. 
Macaulay  is  acting  as  a  philosoi)hic  politician,  on  the  principle 
that  all  religions  are  to  tlie  statesman  e(iually  useful,  and  he 
forgets  that  to  men  of  stron-  religious  convictions  any  religion 
but  their  own  is  dangerous  falsehood,  to  be  forced  to  contribute 
to  the  support  of  which  is  of  all  tyrannies  tlie  jiiost  r.^j.ulsive. 
But  are  not  these  mighty  opi)omints  fighting  in  tlie  clouds'^ 
On  earth  we  have  had  despots  imposing  their  religions  on  con- 
quered  communities.      Ferdinand   the   Secjond   imposed  his 
Catholicism  on  Uohemia  when  it  was  wrested  from  Protestant- 
ism, Louis  the  Fourteenth  imposed  his  Cat]ioli<;ism  on  a  Ger- 
man principality  which  fell  into  his  hands.     ]}ut  has  any  kin- 
or  orovernor  ever  selected  a  religion  by  tlie  pure  light  of  his 
own  conscience  and   imposed    it  on   his   people?      Has   the 
process  ever  been  one  of  speculative  reasoning  or  conviction''' 
I'or  the  origin  of  Establishment  we  must  go  back,  apparently, 
to  the  days  of  tribal  religion,  in  which  every  member  of  the 
tribe  was,  by  virtue  of  his  birth,  a  loyal  worshipper  of  its 
tutelary  divinity.     Conversion  as  Avell  as  belief  was  not  per- 
sonal but  tribal,  the  Saxon  or  Dane  passing  with  the  rest  of 


f 


iVi 


78 


QniSTIONS   OP    IIIK    DAV. 


t.l'' 


»  r,ace  or  tho  ,,ortu,„  of  it  to  ,vl,i„l>  he  bol„„g„,l,  an.l  under 
1..^  chid,  by  treaty  or  eapitclatio,,,  to  tI,o  all^.i  u.oo  of    he 
"..q"on..g  gocl.     What  is  style,!  the  eonversio  ?  of  C,°LtZ 
Une  was  ,„  aU  luohahUity  har.lly  a  oha,„e  of  ,„i,„l;  i      e  . 
ta  nly  was  not  a  eaange  of  life;  ,„„st  likely  it  was  th  ,  re«^- 
m  ,on   l,y  a  shrewd  a,„l  thoroughly  worldly  politician,  o^^ 
.  cen,laney  wh.ch,  partly  tI,ro„,d,  tho  n.an.fest  failure  of    1  e 
o  c  god»  to  avert  public  disaster,  Christianity  had  gain.'l  in 
the  Uoman  world.     It  is  probable  that  Clovis  an.l  Kthell  ert 
yolded   n,a,,dy  to  the  inHuence  of  a  superior  eivilisaWo 
impersonated  in  the  inissio]iary.  «-iviiisation 

The  Christian  Chureh  inherited  the  Establishment  of  the 
Pagan  Ji-mpire.     Hut  to  the  prin.al  tradition  of  allegian  ,   to 

hn,  1  truth  of  a  rehg.on  guaranteed  by  supernatural  revelation 
am  by  an  Infallible  Chureh  whoso  authority  exelude,n,,^; 
an,I   , nado  d.ssont  treason  at  once  against  her  and  a^aS 
the  Sta  e  w.th  which  she  was  united.     Out  of  tho  Cta 
Ls  abhshnu^nt  of  the  Eon.an  Empire  grow,  on  tho  one    a,' 

C  uS^  :;f   H  "^^.'^^'^  "'""'',"">^  -1— *«1 1'y  "-  ..ationa 
Cuuoh  of  Kus.sm,  and  on  tho  other  the  Establishment  of 
the  group  of  European  nations  whicli  formed   a  religious 
oderafon  under  tho  eeelesiastie.al  sovereignty  of  tl  o  C 
10  whattho  identiheation  of  the  Chureh  ^vitlf  the  ktagdo; 
of  th,s  world  and  tho  consequent  identification  of  heresy  w 
t  oa.o„   ed,  as  ,t  could  not  fail  to  load,  is  written  on  somro 
the     ost  terrrblo  pages  of  history.     Eeligion  has  boon  accused 
of  enm  s  of  wluoh  tho  real  source  was  in  tho  union  of  the 
si«ntual  with  the  temporal  authority,  and  in  the  tern™    1 
w«i  1th  of  a  State  Church.     Mere  fanaljeism  has  l":  to Tn'Z 
101  than  I  apal  tiaras  and  archbishoprics  of  Toledo 

Undoubting  conviction  and  perfect  unity  of  belief  were 
throughout  ho  conditions  of  the  system.  When  doubt, 7" 
basi?'of'"tl   ''''"f'""™"»*  ':■■'""'  i"  <"«'  tl'o  Reformation   the 

made  at    e  .sM     pT  T'""'"'™-     ^'  "'■^''  '»  '*-"!"  ™« 
made  a    least  by  Protestant  rulers,  to  fall  back  on  n,- tional 

Establishments,  to  which  it  was  the  aim  of  statesmen,  by 


liil 


TIIK   QUESTION   ,„.■    l)ISKSrAI)l,l.sllMENT.  79 

legal  oonstnunt  ,„•  politic  compromi.se,  to  make  all  subjects  of 
he  real,,,  confo,-.,,.     That  the  reli.ion  of  a  .lisfict  w™t tit, 
te  cv.l  K„ve,„me„t  was  the  ecelesiastieal  priueiple  of  the 
(.er,„a„  E,„p„.e  after  the  Kofo„„atio„.     The  bel  ef  It  , 
na.o„  was  bo,„„Uo  have  a  religio,,,  a,,.,  to  s,,pp„,;  "Ll 
ft.  If  '"1.  <""'°^""™''  »'«'  become  tl,or„.,s;l,Iy  i„„,S 
.ts  hold  on  tho  ,n„,d  of  the  Puritaa  was  st,-e;gtlL,ed  by  hL 
,mc,-,tical  acceptance  o,  tho  Old  Tcsta,„cnt-  -inft  ,„  K      , 

— ..s  .10  ..ot  coir;  JT^r:t:::j:;:ij^ 

those  who  „at„..all,  enou^rrcf'^eU.e      t' t  sTe":  r?„,r 

rel,g,o„  of  the  nun,er,cal  majority.     But  the  weakness  of  such 
a  pr„,e,ple  has  been  already  shown.     You  falsify  yo.u  own 
est  when  you  artificially  draw  people  into  a  particula.  Church 
by  g,v,„g  .t  privileges  and  e„dow,„ents.     T  .e  p   „    pt  was 
m  fa  t,  reno,u,ced  when  endow.nent  was  refused   0  tl     C  ,  ,S 
of  the  majority  ,n  Ireland.     The  best  religion,  the  Vol.mtav 
|st  w,H  contend,  for  the  citizen  as  well  as  for  the,,!,"    s  tllt" 
m  which  he  smcerely  believes;  and  belief,  to  be  perfect  v  s,'n 
cere,  must  be  not  only  unconstrained  but  inbribed  ^ 

Stress  has  been  laid,  in  the  controver.sy  with  regard  to  tb. 
AngUcan  endowments,  on  the  legal  fact'that  thrch„  d,  o 
England  ,s  collectively  not  a  corporation,  each  of  her  ,'rc'f 
bents  being  a  corporation  sole.     She  could  l,.a,.dlv  1 

co..endcdofau;l^::,cl:trn:;2^^^^^^ 

«ons,  though  they  Z^t  ,^/Sl^^  rn'^^r 
cannot  go  for  much  in  determining  tho  el^rei.;  o^  T^ 


I 


{         I 


80 


QUESTIONS   (IF    IMK    DAY. 


b'lH 


^  •■ 


;     ! 


political  aii.l  roli^ious  chnn-...     Tl.n  same  may  be  said  with 
repaid  to  tii,.  .lurslioi,  us  to  the  le-al  eliaivuitcu-  and  orii^in  of 
titii...     As  a  ma,tt.-r  (,f  fact,  tithe  was  in  its  origin  neitluM-  an 
a-j,'givj,rate  of  voluntaiy  l)en(dactions,  nor  a  tax  imposed  l,y  the 
Mate.     Th,.  payment  was  a  .-eligious  ,hity,  of  the  obligation 
to  perform  whi.^h  thi,  elergy  bad  convinced  the  people,  and 
whieh,   like  oth.'r  ndigions  duties,   was  enforced  indiscrimi- 
nately with  civil  .Inties  by  the  kings  an<l  witenagemotes  of 
those  days.     Nobody  can  doubt  now  that  tithe  is  public  prop- 
erty, to  bo  dealt  with  according  to  the  rules  of  publi.;  {jolicy 
and  jastice,  by  both  of  which  r..spe<'.t  for  vested  interests  and 
local  claims  is  prescribe.!.     It  is  true  that  the  land  was  bought 
subject  to  the  payment  of  tithe.     Hut  it  carried  the  benefit  of 
the  religious  ministrations  for  which  the  titlie  was  paid  and 
lor  which  the  landowner  will  henceforth  have  to  pay  out  of  his 
own  pocket. 

Arnold's  ideal,  apparently,  was  an  Established  (Church,  not 
only  connected,   but  identical,   with  the  commonwealth,  em- 
bracing Christians  of  all  doctrinal  varieties,  and  making  no 
distinction  bcitween  clergy  and  laity  but  one  of  a  merely  offi- 
cial kind.     The  idea  seems  to  have  been  drawn  from  the  com- 
monwealths of  ancient  (Jreeee,  of  the  history  of  which  Arnold 
was  a  passionate  student.     From  Arnold  it  was  transmitced 
to  Stanley,  who  went  so  far  in  his  love  of  State  Churches  and 
their  chami)ions  as  to  show  a  slight  tenderness  for  "  Hluidie 
Mackenzie."     The  difficulties  of  application  in  a  country  like 
England,    full  of   religious    divisions,    including   the    insur- 
mountable division  between  Protestants  and  Roman  Catholics 
need  no  demonstration.     How  are  the  different  sects  to  share 
the  edifices  and  the  endowments  among  them?     How,  if  they 
are  all  to  be  domiciled  under  the  same  roof,  is  peace  to  be 
kept  in  such  a  family?    The  part  of  the  Minister  of  Public 
Worship  would  not  be  easy.     To  the  Empire,  of  course,  with 
all  its  Mahometans  and  Hindoos,  such  an  ecclesiastical  polity 
could  not  be  extended.     But,  above  all,  what  object  is  to  be 
gained  by  encountering  all  these  problems  and  complications 
Which  would  not  be  better  gained  through  the  self-adjusting 


\^  \ 


TMM    (.^UKSTrON    OK    DISKSTAHMSIIMKNT. 


81 


SMup hc.ty  o(    the    froo   nyninn?     Tlu,    nnu.tion   assij^nod   by 
An.oM  to  th(^  Kov(UMiin.Mit,  .sc-nis  t..  Iu,  tl.ut  (,r  «>..,I,.siusticil 
poh.v,  |,1m,  n.'o,ll(..ssn,,,s,s  „r  uhi.l.  f,l„,  oxp.Tici.u,  „1'  Clunrhls 
ni  AHu.ri(.i,  wluu-u  all  g„..s  on  <l,.,.,.„t,ly  an.l  withoi.t  .lisonhu- 
s  unvs,  wlnlo  it  (,onM  hanlly  fail  to  h.  ,.r..,l.,l  in  au  .stal/- 
iLslnnent  lor  th.  t,tlu>.s  and  pulpits  ol'   uM.i.l.  (Catholics  a.ul 
ovory    soot    of "  I'rotostants     u'on,     porpotually    ..uirnd\n^. 
Arnold  appoars  to  Inve   iorgott.iu  tl.at,   iu  anoi.-ut   Atl.ous 
suoh  8p,nt.,al  life  as  thore  vva,s  wout  ou,  at  loa,st  iu  ti.o  ti.u,' 
of  Soorat..s,  apa.tfroni  the  Stato  ndigiou,  a,n,l  that  its  pontiff 
saonhcodto  J^.soulapiusacook,  not  his  spiritual  oonviotions 
1  ho  saonhoin^^  o-'  ,.,„ks  iununiora,l,lo  to  7I^]sonlapius,  with  the 
].rovis.o,.sof  sti,.nds  fov  his  oliieial  niiuisto.s,  would  proba- 
bly bo  the  ohiot  iruits  of  the  Aruoldian  systoni. 

Arnold's  ideal  is  a  Christian  coinniouwealth.  This  he 
would  have,  though  he  wouhl  not  have  eon  form  ity  or  ortho- 
<loxy,  If  Ins  nation  were  UKuh"  up  of  Christian"  Churches 
whose  eouinion  principles  would  praetieally  regulate  nublie 
ufe  and  natu,nal  aetion.  In  this  sense  the  Anun-ican  ...uu- 
monwealth  is  Christian.  It  is  far  moro  Christian  than  ICu-^- 
hiud,  or  any  one  of  the  European  nations  with  Establishnl 
Churches,  Avas  in  the  last  century.  Ostonsibly,  of  ,.nirs..  ,t 
IS  not  Christian  or  religious;  but  surcdy  it  must  be  the  prac- 
tical, not  the  ostensible,  character  which  has  a  value  in  the 
eye  of  Heaven. 

In  native  American  communities  and  in  Canada,  society 
and  life,  it  may  safely  be  said,  are  not  less  as  religious 
under  the  free  system,  than  in  England  under  that  of  a  State 
CJuirch.  Unquestionably  there  is  far  more  n^spect  for  reli- 
gion there  than  in  France,  where  the  Church  is  still  established 
but,  in  a  ''Librairie  Anti-cl.u-icale,"  the  most  hid,H,us  blas- 
phemy is  openly  sold.  The  Church  in  America  and  Canada 
IS,  to  fully  as  great  an  extent  as  in  England,  the  centre  of 
philanthropic  effort  and  of  social  life.  There  is  fully  as 
much  building  of  churches  and  as  much  church-going,  and 
the  Sunday  in  most  places  is  as  well  kept.  The  very  aspect 
of  an  American  city  or  village,  with  its  spires  and  steeples 


(     * 


'T 


82 


(iri:STI()NS   OK   TIIK    DAV. 


m 


i: 


III 


(/.'•Iff 


11  I 


■li 


" pointing'  to  hoavon,"  thniifrh   porhaps  not  "tapering"  with 
(••msmiiiMiitc  fr,.;,,.,.,  piorlaiiiis  the  (•ojniuimity  ivli-ious.     Amei- 
Kiaii  inissious  to  t]w.  l.catlicn  vi(<  with  tlios.;  ofKiij^rhmd.      If 
the  public  school  admits  only  a  vovy  small  clrmcnt  of  roli-jon, 
the  Sunday  school   is  a   hi-hly  cherished  and   ;,,  thmrisdiintj 
institution.      TIio  Churches  an.  enabled   to   distribute   lar-a' 
sums  m  charity;  sonu.  of  them  in  fact  do  fully  as  much  as 
IS  desirable  in  that  way.      We  hear  of  a  sin-le  offertory  in 
th..  cluind.  of  a  jrreat  prea(d.er,  with  a  wealthy  con^'re-ation 
of  .1150,000.      Whik,   tlH.  choice    of   a    religion    is    absolutely 
tree,  while  no  candi(hite  for  office  is  asked  to  wliat  Church 
he  belongs,  so  long  as  his  Church  is  not  politically  aggres- 
sive, while  members  of  the  sanu.  family  belong  to  different 
CInirches  without  domestic  fri(!tion,  to  be  entiivly  without  a 
religion  is  to  incur,  with  most  i)eople,  a  shade  of  social  sus- 
picion.    In  no  well-bred  society  would  anything  offensive  to 
religious  feeling  be  endured.     All  this  is  spontaneous  and  has 
the  strength  of  spontaneity,  while  tiie  ivligion  of  the  peas- 
antry in  an  English  country  parish  is  not  so  certainly  si)on- 
taneous.     In  New  York  or  Chicago,  there  is  a  large  forehni 
population,  much  of  it  drawn  from  the  moral  barbarism  of 
Europe.     Yet  even   in   New  York   and    Chicago  religion   is 
strong,  is  well  endowed,  furnishes  the  basis  of  much  social 
effort,  and  copes  vigorously  with  the  adverse  forces.     If  its 
influence  wanes  visibly  towards  the  AVest,  this  is  not  owin- 
to  the  absence  of  an  Establishment,  but  to  the  general  tempei- 
anient  of  the  Western  people. 

It  is  difficult  to  compare  the  incomes  of  the  clergy  under 
the  two  systems,  but  probably  in  the  Northern  States  the 
clergy  are,  on  the  average,  as  well  off  as  in  England,  cer- 
tainly since  the  reduction  of  the  incomes  of  English  benefices 
by  agricultural  depression.  A  first-rate  preacher  in  a  great 
American  city  has  an  income  hardly  inferior  to  that  of  an 
English  bishop,  when  the  heavy  demands  on  the  bishop  are 
taken  into  account.  Clerical  incomes  might  be  greatly  im- 
proved if  the  Protestant  Churches  between  whose  creeds  there 
is  no  essential  difference  would,  in  the  rural  districts  at  least, 


f.li: 


TIIK   QUESTION   OK    DISKSTAIJLISIIMKXT. 


8.T 


instciul  of  ('ompoting,  coinbiiKs  mkI  give  a  good  stipend  to  one 
pastor  where  they  now  give  poor  stiixMids  to  three.     Nor  does 
it  seem  inii)ossible  tliat  something  of  this  kind  may  be  brought 
alKHit.     Tiiongh  there  (iaiiiiot  bi;  said  to  be  any  present  likeli- 
hood of  formal  nnioii  timoiig  the  I'rotestant  (MuindKfs,  there 
is  a  strong  tendency  to  mutiuil  reciognition  and  to  interehaiige 
of  pulpits,  from  whieh  working  union,  at  all  events,  may  som<' 
day  result.     It  is  ditKcult  again  to  draw  a  eomparison  between 
the  social  position  of  the  clergy  in  the  United  States  and  their 
social  position  in  England,     'rhere  are  not  in  America  digni- 
tai'ies  like  the  I<:nglish  bishop  and  dean,  enjoying  precedtmce 
by  virtue  of  their  ecclesiastical  otUcje,  nor  is  tliere  a  set  of 
clergymen  like  tie;  country  rectors  of  England,  (!ond)ining  the 
resident  gentleman  with  the  pastor.     The  balance  perhaps  is 
ratlun;  in  favour  of  the  clergy  under  the  free  system.     No 
American  clergyman  can  be  an  object  of  (dass  antipathy  to  the 
people,  as  it  si^ems   the   English   parson  sometimes   is   in  a 
country  parish.     That  a  clergyman,  if  he  depends  on  his  con- 
gregation for  his  ])ay,  will  bec^ome  tlieir  theological  thrall,  is, 
perhaps,  a  natural  fear.     It  certainly  was  strong  in  the  writers 
of  "Tracts  for  the  Times,"  who,  in  reviving  the  doctrine  of 
Apostolic  Succession,  avowedly  sought  a  new  basis  of  author- 
ity in  place  of  the  support  of  the  State,  which  seemed  to  be 
failing  them,  in  order  that  tlu^y  might  save  themselves  from 
becoming,  like  Dissenting  ministers,  dependent  on  their  flocks, 
and  being  thereby  constrained  to  pander  to  lay  appetite  in 
their  teacliing.      \"et  the  eomidaint  is  not  often  heard  in  the 
Episcopal  (.Muirc.li,  and  congregations  have  been  loyal  to  the 
pastors   of   their   (dioice    even  when  their   loyalty  has  been 
severely  tried.     Tlu;  layman,  as  a  rule,  is  not  a  theologian; 
nor  is  it  his  tendency,  so  long  as  he  gets  on  well  with  his 
pastor  generally,  to  meddle  with  the  teaching  of  the  pulpit.. 
Sometimes   the   stipend    is    i)aid,    iu>t    by   the    (congregation 
directly,  but   through  tlie   medium  of  a  eentra,l  administra- 
tion.    A  clergyman  of  the  American  Episcopal  Church  states 
that  imder  this  idan  he  never  heard  a  pastor  complain  of  the 
loss  of  power  or  independence,  that  the  tie  of  affection  is  as 


\     1 


'f 


84 


QIJKSTIONS  n|.'    Tin.;    dw. 


.  1. 

ifr 


M 


If 

I 


Id 


H 


fri 


1 

M 

i'h 

'l!i 

i    ' 

1 

i't 

n 

li 

Htrong  as  in  tho  most  favoun-.l  (arishes  ol'  Kw^hnul,  that  tlio 
ooMgn-utions  show  no  .l.-sin,  to  tune  tho  pulpit,  and  that  if 
•lisput^^s  ariso  thuy  aro  easily  sottled.     The  clergy,  h(,  says 
loinaii.  ill  their   parishes  as  long  and  as  seeurdy  as  do  the 
<'l|'r;.'y  >M   Kn-lai.d;   in  his  city  they  have  just  buried  a  rector 
who  had  h.!eu  in  tlie  same  «,harge  over  jilty  years,  while  one 
ol   his  own  predc.eessors  held  the  cure  for  forty-six  yc-ars,  and 
all  around  him  an-  men  who  have  held  their  cures  for  twenty 
thirty,  or  forty  years.      1I(.  knot's  of  no  differencies  hetwei-n 
r.'(!tor  and  (^ongregati,,,,,   nor  does    he   helieve  that  amon-st 
tlieir  two  hundred  (^h-rgy  tliere  is  one  who  wishes  the  Chuivh 
to  he  "hy  law  estal.liished."     j fe  admits  that  there  are  cleri- 
<!al  lailures,  hut  1...  says  that  they  raivly  find  themselves  in 
positions  ol   imi.ortance,  and  usually  droj)  out  early.      In  'in 
Kstal.lished  Church  they  would,  as  a  rule,  not  drop  out,  esp,- 
<ually  il  they  iudd  family  livings.     Against  any  possible  evils 
arising  Irom  the  ivstlessness  or  (,aprice  of  congregations,  are 
t(»  b(^  set  tlie  torpor  which  may  be  bred  by  securitv  luid  the 
(•liances  of  irremovable  iiuiapaeity  or  decivpitude.     The  parish- 
ioners of  livings  in  the  gift  of  (.)xford  colleges,  when  the  col- 
leges were  clos.',  and  the  presentees  had  lived  many  years  in 
Common  lloom,  would  have  had  some  strong  evidence  to  <ny^ 
upon  tliis  sul)je('t.  ° 

Tlu!  belief  that  religious  extravagance  will  ensue  upon  the 
withdrawal  of  State  control  may,  from  American  experience 
Im-  saf.dy  pronounced  groundless.     The  effectual  restraint  on 
extravagance  is  not  State  control,  but  popular  enlightenment 
Such  works  as  Mr.  Hepworth  Dixon's  "New  America"  and 
"Spiritual    Wives"  have   created   a   false    impression.     The 
wild  sects  u'liich  he  describes  are,  in  the  first  i)lace,  as  much 
social  as  religious;  and,  in  the  second  place,  the  space  which 
•they  occupy  (m    tlie  religious  maj.  of   the   United    States  is 
msignihcant.      The    great    mass    of    the    p.'ople    b.don-'    to 
Churches  imported   from    Kuroju',  and  i.h'ntical  in  all  essen- 
tial   resi)ects  with    their    European   counterparts.     The  only 
new  Church    of  any  importance   is   the  Universalist,  which 
resembles  a  higldy  liberal  Methodism  with   the   doctrine  of 


THE  QUKSriON   oF   DISKSTAULISHMKNT. 


M 


<'t(>rnal  i)unisl.mciit  stnuik  out  by  tho  humanitarian  ism  of 
(leniocnuiy.  Tilings  aro  not  as  llit^y  wore  in  tiie  oarlior  and 
less  sotll(!(l  tiiiifs.  A  canip-nicntinj,'  now  is  littlo  nioro  than 
a  religious  picMiio  lasting  through  sovcnil  days.  "Revivals" 
America  has,  and  so  has  England.  The  Salvation  Army,  if 
that  is  to  be  nund)ered  anu)ng  extravagances,  is  an  English 
product.  Moriuonism  is  nuiinly  recruit(id  from  ICnglaiul.  No 
sect  is  to  be  found  in  the  New  World  couiparahle  in  wihlness 
to  sonu)  of  \vhi(;h  we  read  as  existing  in  Russia,  where  the 
connection  between  Church  and  State  in  its  (doseness  resem- 
bles the  Calii)hate.  It  is  needless  to  say  that  there  is  no 
superstition  in  the  United  States  so  abject  as  that  which  has 
prevailed  in  the  south  of  Italy,  in  Spain,  or  in  some  parts 
of  Russia. 

It  may  be   that  in   America  preaching  is  more  cultivated 
than  theology,  and  that  this  is  i)artly  tin?  consequencic  of  a 
system   whi(!h  m;dtes   the  power  of   attracting  coiigregations 
the  passi)ort  to  the  high  places  of  the  clericuil  profession.     It 
is,   however,  fully  as  much  a  consecpience  of  the  rhetorical 
tendencies  of  democracy  in  general.     The  tastes  of  the  unedu- 
cated or  half-educated  are  uncritical,  and  it  is  inevitable  that 
there  should  be,  as  mnpiestioniddy  there  is,  rant  in  the  popular 
pul])it,  as  well  as  on  tin;  i)olitical  stunvp.     Hut  tliere  is  also 
preaching  of  the  higliest  order,  and  such  as,  if  good  is  to  be 
done  by  preaching  at  all,  must  do  a  great  deal  of  good.     It 
may  be  doubted  whether  the  English  pulpit  can  vie,  on  tlie 
average,  with  that  of  the  United  States.     It  has  hardly  had 
a  greater  preacher  or  in  a  higher  style  than  the  lamented 
Phillips  Brooks.     There  is  a  tendency,  perhaps,  to  overstrain 
for  effect,  but  this  is  an  intellectual  characteristic  of  the  age. 
People  are  no  longer  content  simply  to  "hear  the  Word  of 
God";  they  crave  for  eloquencte  as  they  crave  for  ritual,  and 
the  result  of  tlie  attempt  to  supply  it  is  sometimes  overstrain. 
We  cannot  look  far  beneath  the  surface  of  religious  life. 
Appearances,  though  strong  and  uniform,  may  deceive.     Be- 
neath all  this  church-building,  church-going,  mission-sending, 
and  Sunday  school  teaching,  there  may  be  growing  holbwness 


?; 


80 


QUESTIONS   OF   THE   DAY. 


III 

M 


Ill 


In 


'  I  i' 


and  creeping  clouDts.  That  possibility  is  not  confined  to  the 
Western  hemisphere;  but  the  tide  of  scepticisir  is  less  violent 
when  it  has  no  State  Church  against  which  to  beat.  The 
general  tendency,  even  of  those  who  lapse  from  crthodoxy  in 
America,  is  not  towards  Atheism,  but  towards  Theism,  with 
Christian  ethics  and,  perhaps,  with  Christian  hopes.  This 
as  a  break  at  all  events,  in  a  descent  perilous  to  public 
morality,  though  orthodoxy  may  not  value,   statesmanship 

If  we  turn  to  the  Episcopal  Church  of  the  United  States 
m   particular,    it   could   Iiardly   be   expected   that   the   com- 
promise between  Catholicism  and  Protestantism  devised  by 
the  ludors  and  their  councillors  to  meet  the  circumstances 
of  the  Enghsu  people  in  the  si::teenth  century,  or  to  satisfy 
at  once  tne  personal  ritualism  of  Queen  Elizabeth  and  her 
political  antagonism  to  the  Pope,  would,  wher  transplanted, 
strike  Its  roots  very  deep  into  the  soil  of  tlie  New  World 
It  is  obvious  that  for  certain  classes   of  men,  Methodism^ 
Presbyterianism,    and    Roman    Catliolicism  have   attractions 
with   Avhich    Anglicanism    cannot    compete.      The   Anglican 
Church  IS  that  of  many  of  the  rich  and  refined,  wliose  tastes 
It  suits  by  Its   hierarchical   constitution,   the   dignity  of   its 
services    its   historical  associations,  and   its   indulgent   lati- 
tude.    It  also  derives  some  social  prestige  from  its  connec- 
tion with  tlie  State  Church  of  England,  with  the  episcopate 
and  clergy  of  which  its  episcopate  and  clergy  are  identified. 
Not  that  ^t  contains  all  the  rich,  or  even  a  moiety  of  tliem- 
many  of  the  rich  have  risen  from  t]>.3  ranks  of  industry  and 
brought  their   Presbyterianism,    their   Metliodism,    or    some 
other   popular   religion,   with   them.     Nor    is   it  without   an 
element  drawn   from   the   other   social   extreme.      It   counts 
among  its  members  not  a  few  of   tlie  very  poor,   especially 
among  the  newcomers  from  England,  wlio  have  ne.er  been 
accustomed  to  maintain  voluntary  Cliurches,  and  to  whom  it 
IS  often  liberal  of  its  alms.     We  see  here  probably  the  posi- 
tion towards  which  it  would  gravitate  if  left  to  itself  without 
State  support  in  England.     It  must  be  remembered,  hov^ev-r 


THE  QUESTION  OP   DISESTABLISHMENT. 


87 


that  it  has  in  England  what  it  has  not  in  the  New  World, 
cathedrals  and  pcirisli  churclies,  in  vvliich  the  religious  life  of 
the  nation  for  ages  has  centred,  together  with  a  traditional 
hold  on  the  minds  of  almost  the  whole  of  the  wealthier 
classes.  Tiie  elective  episcopate  of  the  United  States,  if  it 
does  not  contain  any  one  equal  in  learning  to  Lightfoot  or 
Skibbs,  is  fully  the  peer  of  the  English  episcopate  nominated 
by  the  Crown  in  excellence  of  personal  cliaracter,  in  pastoral 
power,  energy,  niid  influence,  in  administrative  capacity,  and 
in  the  respect  and  attachment  which  it  commands.  The 
action  of  the  laity  when  admitted  to  the  Church  legislature, 
wliich  the  English  clergy  dread,  has  been  shown  by  experi- 
ence to  be  conservative;  they  once  were  a  check  upon  Evan- 
gelical, they  are  now  a  check  on  Ritualistic,  innovation.  No 
doctrinal  change  of  importance  has  been  made  in  the  Prayer 
Book  beyond  the  omission  of  the  Athanasian  Creed.  Of 
course  there  is  trouble  arising  from  the  Ritualistic  move- 
ment and  the  resistance  to  it;  as  trouble  would  arise  from 
any  attempt  to  combine  in  the  same  Cliurch  two  codes  of 
doctrine  and  two  spiritual  systems  opposed  to  each  other. 
But  the  laity  may  rejoice  that  no  young  incumbent  has 
power,  fis  in  England,  to  change  their  worship  from  Pro- 
testant to  Catholic,  leaving  tliem  as  remedy  but  a  scandalous, 
costly,  and  precarious  lawsuit.  The  election  of  a  bishop 
sometimes  ends,  after  a  protracted  struggle  between  tlie 
parties,  in  an  unsatisfactory  compromise.  This  is  the  in- 
evitable result  of  the  general  division  of  opinion.  Other 
evils  there  are  which  inhere  in  tlie  elective  system.  Against 
these  we  have  to  set  the  evils  wliicli  inhere  in  the  system 
of  ■,  iiinations  by  tlie  Crown,  under  which  a  Prime  Minister, 
no  .  iously  indifferent  to  vcligion,  may  capture  tlie  vote  of  a 
religious  party  by  appointing  its  leaders  to  bishoprics. 

It  is  true  that,  though  severed  from  the  State,  the  American 
Churches  have  not  been  entirely  severed  from  politics.  The 
Baptists  appear  creditably  to  maintain  their  traditional  pre- 
eminen^^e  as  the  pioneers  of  spiritual  freedom,  but  other 
Churches  are  more  or  less  given  to  using  their  influence  in 


III 


88 


QUESTIONS  OF  THE  DAY. 


\^l 


>  n 


u 


I'i 


« ; 


politics  to  the  detriment  alike  of  Church  and   State:   the 
Roman  Catholic  Church,  witli  lier  control  of  the  Irish  vote 
being  the  most  political  of  all.     The  ilnierican  Churches   ov 
too  many  of  them,  sorely  discredited  themselves  by  bowing 
down  before  slavery  in  the  evil  day  of  its  ascendancy,  and 
repudiating  or  treating  with  coldness  those  who  were  striving 
to  awaken  the  slumbering  conscience  of  the  nation;  thou-h  as 
soon  as  the  political  and  social  pressure  was   removed  the 
CJiurches,  or  such  of  tliem  as  were  at  heart  opposed  to  sla- 
very, stood  erect  again  and  lent  the  force  of  religious  con- 
viction to  the  nation  in  the  mortal  conflict.     Tlie  foundations 
ot  all  spiritual  societies  of  men,  as  of  the  spiritual  man  him- 
self, are  in  the  dust;  and  it  is  too  much  to  expect  that,  being 
composed   of   citizens   and    members   of  society,    they   shall 
be  exempt  from  the  political  and  social  influences  of  the  day 
ihe  Northern  Churches  might  also  plead,  in  excuse  for  their 
timorous  attitude,  the  fear  of  rupture  with  tlieir  Southern 
branches   which  in  the  case  of  the  Baptists  actually  occurred 
J^ree  Churches,  if  they  cannot  soar  ab)ve  humanity,  have 
at  least  the  power  of  self-adaptation  and  self-development 
io  a  State  Church  this  liberty  is  denied.     It  is  in  vain  that 
clergymen  of  tlie  Church  of  England  speal    as  though  in  all 
tilie  changes  of  doctrine  and  system  in  tlie  I  eformation  period 
It  had  been  the  Church  tliat  moved.     Bv  the  will  of  Henrv 
the  Eightli  the  national  Cliurch  was  rude  Protestant  so  far 
as  was  required  by  tlie  King's  quarrel  with  the  Pope  and  no 
farther;  by  the  will  of  Edward  the  Sixtli  and  his  Council  she 
was  made  thoroughly  Protestant  and  united  to  the  Protestant 
Churches  of  tlie  Continent;  by  the  will  of  Mary  she  was  made 
Latliohc  again  and  reunited  to  Rome;  by  the  will  of  Elizabeth 
she  was  once  more  severed  from  the  Papacy  and  settled  on 
the  principle  of  compromise.     All  tins  was  done  without  any 
apparent  evidence  of  a  change  of  conviction  on  the  part  of  the 
body  of  the  clergy,  which  seems  to  have  remained  (Jatholic  in 
sentiment  throughout,  to  have  welcomed  the  Catholic  revolu- 
tion under  M.uy,  and  to  have  been  opposed  to  the  Protestant 
revolution  at  the  accession  of  Elizabeth,  though  no  regard  was 


THE   QUESTION  OF  DISESTABLISHMENT. 


89 


paid  in  any  case  to  its  wishes.  ^    Bishops  were  consulted  only 
as  theological  experts  or  to  give  colour  to  the  actions  of  the 
government,  not  as  heads  of  an  independent  Church.     Eliza- 
beth, when  they  crossed  her  will,  treated  them  not  only  with 
disregard  but  with  insolence.     James  the  First  acted  as  a 
religious  autocrat  in  his  ecclesiastical  proclamations  and  his 
appointment  of  deputies  to  the  Synod  of  Dort.     AVhen  he 
was  at  enmity  with  the  Catholics,  lie  gave  Low  Church  prin- 
ciples the  ascendancy,  by  making  Abbot  archbishop;  wlieu  he 
veered  towards  a  connection  with  the  Catholic  Powers  he  gave 
High  Church  principles  the  ascendancy,  by  bringing  forward 
Laud.     Charles   tne  First  again  in  his  reactionary  clianges 
acted  as  an  autocrat,  through  Laud  as  his  ecclesiastical  vizier. 
Little  attention  appears  to  have  been  paid  by  the  Primate  to 
the  opinions  of  the  clergy,  or  even  to  those  of  the  hierarchy 
at  large.     It  was  political  power  acting  for  a  political  pur- 
pose that,  under  the  Eestoration,  finally  cut  off  the  Church 
of  England  from  the  Protestant  Churches  on  the  Continent, 
and,  since  the  Romans  deny  her  existence  as  a  Church,  Avhile 
the  Greeks  practically  will  not  recognise  her,  placed  her  in 
the  strange  position  which  she  apparently  holds  of  being  the 
whole  Church  or  no  Church  at  all.     In  the  next  century,  to 
use  Hallam's  scornful  phrase,  the  State  sprinkled  a  little  dust 
upon  the  angry  insects  by  depriving  the  Church  altogether  of 
the  power  of  legislating  for  herself.     She  never  had  the  oppor- 
tunity of  fairly  saying  what  she  would  do  with  the  Metliodists, 
who  were  finally  severed  from  her,  not  by  excommunication 
or  secession,  but  by  the  necessity  of  registering  their  chapels 
under  the  Toleration  Act.     The  Episcopal  form  of  Church 
government  was  evidently  perpetuated  by  the  policy  of  the 
Monarchy:  "No  Bisliop,  no  King."     In  Sweden  the  same  in- 
fluence retained  Episcopacy  though  the  religion  was  Lutheran. 
In   countries    such   as   Scotland,    Switzerland,   and   Holland, 
where  the  religious  revolution  was   made  by  an  aristocracy 
or  a  democracy,  other  forms  of  Church  government  prevailed. 
Parliament,  when  it  was  thrown  open  to  men  of  all  religions 

1  See  Dr.  Child's  Church  and  State  niider  the  Titdors. 


,  Fi 


11; 


n 


II.  i 


It 

Is  i 


00 


QUESTIONS  OK    rilH    DAV 


and  of  none,  Ixicainp  J,'liu•ill.^'ly  iindt  to  Icj^Mslato  for  tlio  Cluircli. 
The  (Miiirch  tliencclbrth  was  (ioiKhumicd  to  Icgi.slativo  iiiimo- 
bility.     Change   tlicrc;   Ii;is  Ixu'ii  and   witli  a  vcngcanco;    tlio 
ritual  lias  Imhmi  turnod  from  a  Trotcstaut  scrvicii  into  what  it 
is  very  diilicult  to  distinguish  IVom  tlio  Mass,  whih*  in  other 
ros|u;cts  tiu^  Catholic,  sysU'iu   in   placi!  of  thi^  Trotestaut  has 
kuMi  introdiu'cd.     Hut  this  has  lu'cn  (h)no,  not  by  regular  leg- 
islation, hut  l>y  the  irregular  action  of  iiulividual  clergymen, 
at  the  exj.ense  of  unseemly  struggles  and  degrading  litigation, 
sometinu's  before  a  tribunal  of  "  [{ouuui  augurs."     To  give  tlu; 
(diangc!  tlu^  colour  of  legality,  it  has  been  ass(!rt(Ml  that  the 
liiturgy,  not   the  Artieh's,    is    thv.   standard  of  faith.      Is   it 
possible  to  believe  that,  the  standard  is  to  Ix!  found,  not  in  the 
original  manifesto,  of  which  tlu;  object  was  explicitly  to  set 
forth  (h)ctriue,  but  in  the  ritual,  th(^  aJm  of  the  franuu-s  of 
which  evidently  was  to  retain  as  mwh  as  jtossible  of  the  cus- 
tomary and  familiar?     The  Church  is  the  Keeper  of  all  Truth : 
how  came  it  to  i)ass  that  down  to  tlu^   I'ourth  decade  of  the 
nineteenth  ciMitury  she  remained  ignorant  of  this  all-important 
truth  respecting  herself? 

lh)\v,  surely,  can  look  back  with  |)rid(^  on  the  history  of  a 
political  Church:  on  her  s(>rvile  submission  to  the  will  of  the 
sovereign;  her  boundh'ss  (>xaltation  of  tlm  royal  power  for  the 
sake  of  gaining  royal   favour  and  support;  li(>r  sinister  com- 
plicity with  a  political  reaction  which  i)lur.getl  the  nation  into 
a  civil  war;  her  alliance  with  the  unlu)ly  powei-s  of  tht^  llesto- 
ration  for  the  purpose  of  crushing  the  Nom^onformists;   her 
preaching  of  passive  obedience  when  the  Crown  was  on  the 
side  of  the  elergy;  her  disregard  of  that  doctrine  as  soon  as 
clerical  interests  wow  touched  by  the  tyranny;  \wr  conrting  of 
Nonconformist  aid  against  James  the  Second;    her  renewed 
innvsecution  of  the  Nonconformists  under  the  leadership  of  the 
iuHdel  r.olingbroke  wIumi  the  danger  to  hersidf  was  past;  the 
wretched  consj)iracies  of  her  Jacobite  clergy  against  the  peace 
of   the  i-ountry;    the  conduct  of   her  tdergy  and  bishops  in 
Ireland,   for  the  calamitous    state  of   which  they  are  partly 
responsible,  and  whence  by  their  intolerance  they  drove  forth 


TlIK    QIIKSTION    OK    DISKSTA  III.ISHMFINT. 


91 


J'resbytcrijiiis,  Mi((  siiK^ws  of  Irish  iiuhi.stry,  to  hcoonie  the 
siiiows  oi'  AiiK'ricaii  iwolutioii.  For  the  ohstiiiiito  violence  of 
the  goveriiiiient  in  its  deiiliiif,'  with  th(!  Ainericaiis  and  the 
fatal  ru])ture  whieh  ciisiied,  (d(!ri(!al  Toryism,  as  we  know 
on  the  best  of  (^vicUdiee,  was  larg(dy  to  l)hiiii(!.  Even  with 
regard  to  (questions  of  humanity,  siudi  as  tlio  abolition  of  the 
slave-trade  and  of  slavery,  the  record  of  the  Stat(!  Church  is 
iisglorious,  and  we  tind  its  bisliops  voting  against  tlie  rei)eal  of 
the  hiw  making  death  the;  [Kuialty  of  a,  [x'tty  theft.  Was  it 
possibh',  that  an  institution  morally  aiul  socially  so  little  bene- 
ficent or  venerable  sliould  ex(M'(us(!  much  ndigious  influence  on 
the  peophi?  True,  besid(-s  her  political  history,  the  CIp  ;ch  of 
Hooker,  llerlxu't.  Ken,  liutlcr,  Wilson,  Klettdier  of  Madeley 
and  Simeon,  has  another  history  on  which  her  friends  may 
look  with  much  greater  satisfaction;  but  how  far  was  this  the 
fruit  of  legal  esta,blishnumt  and  State  endowment? 

To  such  an  extent  did  the  Church  lose  her  spiritual  and 
:i,ssume  a  political  (diaracter  that,  as  Somers  said,  absohite 
[)ower,  passive;  obedience,  and  non-resistance  became,  with  her, 
doctrines  essential  to  salvation.  The  good  Bishop  Lake  said 
on  his  death-bed  that  "he  looked  on  the  great  doctrine  of 
l)assive  obedience  as  the  distinguishing  character  of  the  Church 
of  England,"  and  Bishop  Thomas  of  Worcester  expressed  the 
same  belief.^  In  the  case  of  Monmouth,  the  bishops  made  the 
profession  of  this  doctrine  a  condition  of  absolution.  It  is 
not  with  mere  refusal  to  promote  or  countenance  political 
innovation,  that  the  State  Church  stands  charged,  Imt  with 
])laying  :in  active  and  even  a  violent  part  in  reaction.  The 
torpor,  the  time-serving,  the  pluralism,  the  non-residence,  the 
Trulliberian  sensuality,  as  well  as  the  scandalous  place-hunting 
and  the  adulation  of  profligate  Ministers  and  of  kings'  mis- 
tresses, which  disgraced  the  clergy  in  the  last  century,  are 
now,  happily,  things  of  the  jiast.  But  when  did  they  prevail? 
When  the  Clmrch  was  most  secure  under  the  protection  of  the 
State.     When  did  they  cease  and  give  place  to  a  spirit  of 

iSee  The  English  Church  in  Uu  j.  (jhteenth  Ce ««?<)•?/,  by  Abbey  and 
Overton,  i.  138. 


<« 


92 


QUESTIONS  OF  THE   DAV. 


m 


1 


II 


II' 


reform  and  duty?     When  that  protection  began  to  be  with- 
drawn. 

The  late  Bi.sliop  of   London,  Jackson,  is  quoted  by  Dean 
Hole  as  saying  tliat  *'  when  lie  recalled  the  condition  of  apathy, 
indolence,  and  disobedience  into  which  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land had  fallen,  it  seemed  marvellous  to  him  that  it  continued 
to  exist."     The  Dean  himself  remembers  the  days  of  plurali- 
ties and  non-resid(mce,  wlien  the  people  of  his  parish  never 
saw  or  heard  of  their  vicar,  the  church  being  served  by  tlie 
curate  who  lived  live  miles  away,  rode  over  for  one  dreary  ser- 
vice on  the  Sunday,  and  was  no  more  seen  for  the  rest  of  the 
week,  being  much  occupied  with  the  pursuit  of  the  fox;  when 
a  pluralist  who  had  come  in  a  conscientious  mood  to  visit 
the  living  from  which  he  had  long  been  an  absentee,  beiu" 
offended  by  a  bad  smell,  turned  back  and  came  no  more;  when 
the  altar  was  represented  by  a  small  rickety  deal  table,  with 
a  scanty  covering  of  faded  and  patched  green  baize,  on  which 
were  placed  the  overcoat,  hat,  and  riding-whip  of  the  officiat- 
ing minister;    when  the   font  was  filled  with  coffin   ropes, 
tinder-box,  and  candle-ends,  and  was  never  used  for  baptism- 
when  sparrows  twittered  and  bats  floated  beneath  the  rotten 
timbers  of  the   roof,  while  moths  and  beetles  found  happy 
homes  below.  ^    Since  that  time,  the  Dean  says,  there  has  been 
great  reform,  which  he  traces  to  the  Oxford  Movement.     What, 
let  us  ask  again,  was  the  age  of  decrepitude  and  abuse  ^    It 
was  the  age  in  which  the  Church  of  England  felt  herself  most 
safely  established.     When   did  the  revival  begin?    When, 
from   the  progress   of  Liberalism,   civil    and  religious,   the 
Establishment  began  to  be  endangered.     What  was  the  Oxford 
Movement?     It  was  practically  a  movement  of  dissent,  thougli 
reactionary  dissent,  from  the  established  system,  and  was  at 
first  so  regarded  and  treated  by  almost  the  whole  of  the  clergy 
of  the  Established  Church.     Its  progress  has  been  a  perpetual 
confiict  with  the  law  and  with  the  lay  tribunals  by  which  the 
law  was  upheld. 

We  have  been  warned  that  we  must  be  very  cautious  in 

1  See  The  Memories  of  Dean  Hale,  Chap.  xi. 


THE   QUESTION   OF   DISESTABLISHMENT. 


98 


hng- 


reasoning  from  the  case  of  a  new  country  like  America  or  the 
British  Colonies  to  that  of  an  old  country  like  England,  where 
ini^titutions  are  of  ancient  growtli,  and  their  fibres  have 
become  entwined  witli  the  wliole  political  and  social  frame. 
It  is  a  warning  most  true  and  most  necessary  to  be  observed, 
as  is  its  converse,  which  forl)ids,  for  example,  the  attempt, 
apparently  not  yet  abandoned,  to  propagate  aristocracy  in  the 
Colonies.  Yet  it  happens,  curiously  enougli,  that,  just  when 
this  principle  of  relativity  in  politics  is  for  the  first  time  dis- 
tinctly appreliended,  it  is  beginning  to  lose  somewhat  of  its 
force.  Mankind  is  being  unified  by  the  increase  of  inter- 
course among  the  natioTis,  and  intelligent  effort  is  gaining  the 
ascendancy  over  unconscious  evolution.  Of  this  Japan,  taking 
the  most  cantious  estimate  of  her  achievements,  is  a  proof,, 
America  is  brought  (dose  to  Europe,  and  the  success  or  failure 
of  political  and  social  experiments  there  already  reacts  npon 
the  Old  World. 

The  activity  produced  among  the  clergy  by  the  effects  of  the 
Oxford  Movement,  and  shown  notably  and  most  laudably  in 
their  ministrations  among  the  poor,  seems  to  have  strength- 
ened the  hold  of  the  Anglican  Church  upon  the  people  in  the 
cities.  In  the  cities  also  Ritualism  enlists  in  its  services 
many  members  of  the  congregation,  and  thus  gains  something 
like  the  advantage  which  Methodism  derives  from  its  extensive 
system  of  active  membership.  Among  the  country  people,  on 
the  other  hand,  the  Church  appears  to  be  losing  ground,  the 
reason  probably  being  that  the  clergy  are  objects  of  suspicion 
to  the  peasantry  from  their  social  and  political  connections. 
Perhaps  also  the  parson  sometimes  is  felt  to  meddle  and  dictate 
too  much.  To  the  attractions  of  Kitualism,  while  the  minds 
of  the  people  in  the  cities  are  sometimes  open,  those  of  the 
peasantry  are  completely  closed.  They  lack  the  cultivated 
sensibility  which  feels  the  poetry  of  the  past;  they  are  utterly 
devoid  of  any  historic  link  to  the  Middle  Ages ;  their  life  is 
hard,  and  what  they  seek  in  religion  is  practical  comfort,  not 
the  gratification  of  fancy  and  taste. 

In  Scotland,  the  Establishment  is  more  strongly  rooted  than 


94 


QUKSI'loNH   OK   TllK    DAV. 


If 


It  is  ill   En^'liuul,  iis   Midlothiiin  olofitioiis  l.iuc  shown.     It  Ls 
more  stion^ly  ,,.(,1,,.,1   l),.,-iuiso  luiviiiK'   l><"<'ii    roinKl.-d,  not  by 
tlM«  Crown,  hut,  hy  th,.  n-liKious  h^uh-rs  of  the  (!onimons,  it  is 
more  popular  iind  .h-niocnitic,.      For  thn  siinie  reason  it  is  the 
nunv  orthodox,  its  creod  hoing  in  keeping,  not  ol'  a  clerieal 
"rd<>r,  hut  ol'  the  people  at  hu-e,  who  itlentify  themselves  with 
Its  doetrines  au.l  an-   litth,  n.iehe.l  l>y  seeptieal  speeuhition. 
Hu'    pol.ey  .)f  usino;  a  State  (dergy  as  a  hlaek   police   is, 
sundy,   not    less   sluillow  than    it   is  insulting   to  the  ehu-y 
who  are  to  he  so  us.ul.      Let  the  p.'ople  onee  understand  that 
the  pastor  is  a  hlacdi  i)olieeinan,  and  the  inHueneo  on  which 
this  policy  relies  will  he  gone.     A  government  gets  fully  as 
nuudi  support  from  free  (!hur(du>s  in  the  maintenance  of  social 
order  and   for  all   moral  ol,j,.cts  as   it  does   from  any  State 
(.luirch.     The  Anu>rican  government  got  the  most  strenuous 
and  etfective  aid  from  tlie   l>rotestant  Churches  as  organs  of 
the  popular  conscience  during  the  Civil  War.     On  the  other 
liand,  that  government  escapes  what,  added  to  the  storms  of 
political  fa(!tion,  would  certainly  wreck  it,  entanglement  with 
religious  quarrels  and  with  a  chronic  struggle  between  a  priv- 
ileged Church  and  her  rivals.     It  has  no  Hampden  Case,  no 
Kc'clesiastical  Titles  Bill,  no  "Bill  for  putting  down  Kitual- 
ism."     Nor  is  it  exposed  to  the  chronic  disaffection  of  a  great 
body  of  Nonconformists  irritated  by  social  disparagement'^per- 
haps  even  more  than  by  their  religious  grievance.     An  En<>-lish 
Nonconformist   minister  is  not,  as  such,  disposed  to  revolu- 
tion; he  IS  not  the  natural  ally  of  Jacobins;  nor  is  there  any- 
thing m  his  vocation  wliicli  should  lead  him  to  desire  the 
dismemberment  of  the  United  Kingdom.     He  is  a  Iladical 
and  a,  IIonu>  liuler  because  it  is  from  that  party  that  he  hopes 
to  get  religious  e.piality.     That  he  thereby  sullies  his  religion 
IS  true.     But  though  a  spiritual  guide,  lie  is  of  mortal  mould 
None,  we  should  think,  would  be  less  disposed  to  hand  over 
Ireland   to  the  Roman  Catholic   lu-iesthood   than  the  Welsh 
Methodists,  if  tlu^y  were  not  temi)te(l  by  the  offer  of  Disestab- 
hsliment  for   Wales.     Church  Establishment   in  Wales    is  a 
Stone  hanging  round  the  neck  of  a  government  swimming  for 


TIIK    (ii;i:STI(».\   OF    DISKSTAHI.ISHMKNT 


06 


life,  and  the  iiitc{,'i'ity  of  tlu^  nuiioii  i.s  imperillcid  in  no  slif,dit, 
.logreo  by  tlici  ol.sMiiiitu  (lotcrniination  to  foroo  on  tlio  W(dsh 
CVlt  af,niinst,  liis  natmv  llic  liat  reli<,Moii  of  Eli/iUx'th  Tudor. 
Ai.^dicanisni  in  Wales  is  iiu,  rcli-icMi  of  iUv,  K-'Htiy,  who  an; 
lai-,.ly  lOi.^lish.     Tiiat,  of  tho  Cidti(j  peasantry  it  has  not  hom 
and  (iannot  l)e.     Tiie  Celtic  peasant  may  he  a  fervent  Catholic 
as  he  is  in  Ireland  and  Urittany,  a  fervent  Presbyterian  as  ho 
is    in   tho    IIi,i,ddaiM's,   or  a    fervent    Methodist   as  ho    is    in 
Wales,  a  staid  An-h  -.m  he  will  never  be.     Some  dtdenders  of 
Welsh   Establishment    propose  that  it  sliouhl  strengthen  its 
hoM  on  the  peoph;  by  a(h)pting  the  Welsh  hmgnago.     lint  by 
doing  this  it  would  estrangii  from  itsidf  the  cultivated  classes 
to  whom  it  is  really  congenial,  while  it  would  become  an  organ 
of  mtcdlectual  rca(!ti()n,  not  to  say  an  oi)[.onent  of  civilisat-)n. 
The  overwludming  (;iadstonian  majority  in  Wales  is  a  nuijor- 
ity  for  Disestid)lishnuMit.     The  Anglican  clergy  of  Wales  are 
clergymen  of  the    ICstablisluMl   Church  of   England,  and  the 
interests  of  tlu^  Established  Church  of  England  are  theirs. 
Are  they  wise  in  asking  it  to  light  the  decisive  battle  for  its 
existence  on  a  iield  so  unfavourable  to  its  cause  as  Wales? 

Whatever  is  seditious  and  dangerous  in  the  Irish  priesthood 
arises  not  from  its  being  unestablishcd,  but  from  its  being 
Irish,  and  Irish  of  the  peasant  class.  It  is  also  rendered 
anti-national  by  its  allegiance  to  a  foreign  head;  but  this  it 
would  b(!  in  any  case. 

Some  politi(dans  have  regarded  religion  as  a  disturbing 
force,  for  which  legal  establishment  under  State  control  pro- 
vided salutary  fetters.  If  religion  is  false,  if  the  enthusiasm 
to  Avhi^ch  it  gives  birth  is  a  kind  of  madness,  and  if  tho  vices 
of  its  ministers  are  less  dangerous  than  their  virtues,  the 
more  it  is  kept  under  the  control  of  statesmanship  the  better. 
But,  then,  why  foster  it  at  all?  If  it  is  true,  and  spiritual 
life  is  not  a  figment,  that  surely  alone  is  genuine  statesman- 
ship which  leaves  conscience  and  worship  entirely  free.  When 
one  looks  back  over  the  history  of  religion,  including  the 
religious  wars,  persecutions,  and  massacres,  one  cannot  help 
wondering,   if  all  this  has  happened  under   the   beneficent 


I 


96 


QUKSTIOXS   OK   TIIK    DAV. 


II  . 


m 


regulation    of   statesmanship,   what  worse  things  eoiild  have 
liappened  in  the  absence  ul'  su(!h  re},'ulatiun. 

There  is  looming  up  from  the  (dericial  ([uarter  a  (hinger  of 
another  kind,  with  whii^h  statesmanship  may  h(!reafter  have 
to  deal.  U  the  subversion  of  religious  belief  by  science  and 
criticism  goes  on,  it  will  by  degrees  withdraw  that  on  which 
the  ministers  of  religion  rest  for  their  influence,  their  posi- 
tion, and  their  bread.  Their  distress  or  their  apprehensions 
may  become  a  disturbing  element  in  society.  tSuch  a  body  of 
men  as  the  celibate  clergy  of  the  Church  of  Home,  striving 
to  make  up  by  social  leadership  for  the  loss  of  spiritual 
authority  in  an  age  of  Socialistic  agitation,  might  bo  a  for- 
midable addition  to  the  sources  of  trouble;  nor  have  symptoms 
of  such  a  tendency  been  wanting.  T.ut  this  is  a  liability 
against  which,  if  it  exists,  no  [jolicy  of  Establishment  can 
guard.  On  the  contrary,  Establishment  aggravates  tlie  danger 
by  keeping  a  standing  army  of  clergy  in  its  pay  irresi)ectively 
of  the  popular  desire  for  their  ministi'ations,  and  thus  prepar- 
ing for  a  great  cra'.ih,  when  otherwise  the  reduction  might  be 
gradual  and  no  large  body  of  men  might  be  threatened  at  the 
same  time  Avith  the  loss  of  their  livelihood  and  position. 

Less  coarse  than  the  "  black  \to\\w. "  theory,  yet  not  less  ob- 
jectionable or  in  reality  less  insulting  to  the  ministers  of 
religion,  is  the  theory  of  certain  illuminnti,  who  would  have  a 
State  Church  of  popular  superstition  for  the  vulgar,  while  the 
cultivated  sit  apart  on  their  thrones  of  light.  This  implies  that 
a  number  of  men,  presumably  superior  in  moral  qualities  and 
highly  educated,  are  to  be  dedicated  to  the  ofHce  of  teach- 
ing useful  falsehood.  Suppose  any  of  them  become  illumi- 
nated, are  they  still  to  remain  in  their  profession?  What  but 
moral  corruption  of  the  profoundest  kind  can  be  the  fruit  of 
such  a  policy?  Yet  such  a  thing  has  been  experienced  as 
the  erection  of  an  Anglican  Church  by  an  unbeliever  in  Chris- 
tianity in  pursuance  of  some  such  view.  It  may  be  suspected 
that  Establishment  has  even  drawn  some  equivocal  recruits 
of  late  from  the  scepticism  wliich  prevails  widely  and  is  often 
combined  with  Conservatism  in  politics,  while  the  Churches 


TIIK   (iUESTION   OK    DIHKSTAMLISIIMENT. 


07 


whioh  rest  ntily  on  free  nonviotioii  liavn  boon  losing  ground. 
It  is  time  to  lu'think  ourst^lvcs  tliat  u  Cliunih,  cstahlisluMl  or 
uncstablisiictl,  nmst  Ik;  oitluir  an  or^Mu  ol'  triitli  or  an  cMiginn 
of  nvil.  Apparently,  no  small  portion  ol'  the  (iducatcMl  world 
in  England  has  eoinc;  to  th(!  conclusion  that  tlu;  evidences  ol 
supernatural  religion  have  faiUHl,  J  I'  they  have,  to  keep  on 
loot  an  institution  the  t'unction  ol'  which  is  to  preach  and  pro- 
pagate supernatural  religion  can  surely  by  neither  wise  nor 
right.  When  evidences  of  religion  Tail,  ridigion  must  go, 
and  wo  must  look  out  for  sonu;  other  account  of  tiu^  universe 
and  some  other  rule  of  life.  Let  us  have  no  politic  tigmeiit 
or  organised  s(df-delusion,  because,  on  any  hypothesis,  theistic 
or  atheistic,  they  can  only  lead  us  to  destruction.  We  have 
no  chance  of  moving  in  unison  with  the  counsels  of  the  Power, 
whatever  it  be,  which  rules  this  world,  or  of  pros[)ering  accord- 
ingly, except  by  keeping  in  the;  allegiance  of  the  truth. 

On  the  whole,  it  Avould  seem  that  a  statosnuin,  looking  at 
the  matter  from  his  own  point  of  view,  would  be  lik<dy  to  pre- 
pare for  a  change,  and  consider  how  the  change  can  be  made 
with  least  shock  to  the  spiritual  life  of  the  jj'.ople  and  with 
least  hardship  to  the  clergy.  It  would  seem  that  a  wise 
Churchman  would  be  likely  to  think  twice  before;  \n>.  rejected 
a  compromise,  on  the  general  lines  of  Irish  Disestablishment, 
which,  taking  from  him  the  tithe,  now  reduced  in  value,  as 
well  as  the  representation  of  the  Church  in  the  House  of 
Lords,  would  leave  him  the  cathedrals,  the  parish  churches, 
the  rectories,  the  glebes,  the  recent  benefactions,  and  give 
him  a  freedom  of  legislation,  by  the  wise  use  of  which  he 
might,  supposing  Christianity  to  retain  its  hold,  recover, 
through  adaptation  of  institutions  and  formularies  to  the  times, 
part  of  the  ground  which,  during  the  suspension  of  her  legis- 
lative lite,  his  Church  has  lost.  Democracy  is  marching  on, 
and  the  opportunity  of  compromise  may  never  return.  It  has 
been  said  in  answer  to  such  a  ])roposal  that  the  clergy  are  trus- 
tees, and  that  however  desirable  the  compromise  might  be, 
they  can  surrender  nothing  of  their  trust.  Trustees,  however, 
can,  with  the  sauctioii  of  a  court  of  law,  and  still  more  with 

H 


'       i 


08 


QrKsrioNs  OF  thk  day. 


*'i 


l,UJ 


''ii*     :' 


Miut  of  tlio  L<>^'isliitur(',  conspnt  t(.  jinythiiig  whioh  is  for  tho 
l)onolit  (.r  till.  ...Stat.".  \„  lumvv  imt,  iurtiii-  ui.drr  authority 
iuiuut.'stly  (liviiio  is  ,iu;.Iili,.,l  to  say  non  possnvin.H.  Tl.oso 
who  do  Hiiy  it  can  only  mraii  that  they  aro  (IctcnniiuMl  to  ^n 
by  tiu)  hoard.  fStatc  relij^Mon  i.crhai)s  had  its  day.  Whatever 
hiul  its  day  is  absolv.-d  l,y  history,  who  ncvorthtdess  says  to 
it  Vdda  in  pace. 

'IMiere  is,  it  is  triio,  another  course,  besides  Disestablishment 
u'hu-h  may  present  its.df  to  a  statesman  (h-sirous  of  ,h,,lin.' 
eantiously  with  this  question  and  avoiding  a  shoi^k  to  national 
ivhgion,  the  policy  of  con^.n-liension.     This  was  <.nd)ra(!ed  by 
Cromwell,  and  was  the  most  liberal  course  possible  in  his  day, 
when  the  opinion  that  a  nation  was  bound  to  i)r()fes8  and  suj)- 
port  a  reli-ion  remained  iirmly  rooted  in  men's  mimls,  as  the 
wn!ck  of  I5arebon.>  h.rliameut  on  the  rock  of  Disestablishment 
showed.     Cromwell's  commissionei's,  to  use  jiaxtiu-'s  words, 
"put  in  able  and  serious  prea(;liers  who  lived  a  godly  life,  of 
what  tolerable  oj.inions  soever  they  were,  so  tluit  many  thou- 
sands of  souls  blessed  (}od."     It  is  certain  that  before  the  Act 
of    Uniformity,  Episc()i)al   ordination  was    not   necessary  for 
induction  to  an  English  living,  nor  had  the  Church  of  England 
formally  severed   couueijtion   with   the    Protestant   Churches 
on  the  Continent.      If  ever  a  measure  was  tainted  in  its  origin. 
It  was  the  Act  of  Uniformity,  and  to  n^peal  it  in  the  present 
state  of  opinion  would  probably  be  easy.     lUit  the  practical 
effect  of  the  repeal  would  most  likely  be  defeated  by  the  senti- 
ments of  the  High  Church  clergy,  now  the  dominant  party, 
who  believe  m  apostolical  succession  and  in  the  exclusive  power 
of  ail  (^piscopally  ordained  priesthood  to  perforin  the  sacra- 
mental rites  which  are  necessary  to  salvation. 

In  such  a  case,  as  indeed  in  regard  to  all  great  and  organic 
questions,  every  true  patriot  must  wish  that  the  party  stru-^i  • 
Avhich  IS  tearing  the  nation  to  pieces  could  be  suspended,  and 
that  the  solution  could  be  committed  to  the  hands  of  some 
impartial,  enlightened,  and  open-minded  statesman,  whose 
award  would  be  framed  in  the  interest,  and  would  command 
the  confidence,  of  x\v.  i.r.tion  at  large.  We  might  as  well  wish 
for  the  descent  'L  a.;  >.:igc]  li-om  heaven! 


if  * 


THE   POLITICAL  CRISIS  IN  ENGLAND. 


I 


I 


It 


THE   POLITICAL   CRISIS  IN   ENGLAND. 

In  the  political  crisis  tlirough  Aviiich  Great  Britain  is  pass- 
ing there  are  some  things  pecniliar  to  Great  Britain.  There 
are  other  things  interesting  to  all  nations  regulated  or  intended 
to  be  regulated  on  the  British  model;  to  all  nations,  indeed,  of 
which  the  governments  are  elective.  The  apparent  catastrophe 
of  the  party  system  appears  to  afford  as  much  food  for  reflec- 
tion to  an  American  as  to  an  Englishman. 

Under  the  belief  that  she  has  a  monarchical  government  and 
an  hereditary  upper  chamber,  which  assure  her  stability  and 
safety,  England  has  plunged  into  a  democracy  more  unbridled 
than  that  of  the  United  States  under  more  dangerous  condi- 
tions.    The  founders  of  the  American  commonwealth  looked 
democracy  in  the  face.     The  people  of  the  United  States  have 
a  written  constitution  which  emanated  from  themselves,  and  is 
the  object  of  their  profound  reverence.     They  have  a  Supreme 
Court  to   guard  that   constitution.     They  have   a   President 
whose  veto  is  a  salutary  reality,  and  wliose  authority  was  dis- 
played the  other  day  on  tlie  Silver  Question.     They  have  a 
Senate,  elected  on  a  principl.^  comparatively  conservative,  and 
really  co-ordinate  as  a  legislative  body  with  the  popular  house, 
Avhose  Bills  it  amends  or  throws  out  witliout  fear.     The  federal 
structure  of  their  commonwealth,  like  that  of  a  ship  in  com- 
])artments,  is  a  safeguard  against  any  sudden  flood  of  revolu- 
tion,     hi  their  constitution  is  an  article  forbidding  legislation 
which  would  impair  the  faith  of  eoutracts.     The  conditions  in 
tlieir  case  are  less  dangerous  because  they  have  greater  abun- 
dance of  land,  a  far  lai-ger  number  of  freeholders,  less  pressure 
on  the  means  of  subsistence,  comparatively  little  Socialism, 

101 


102 


QUESTIONS   OF  THE   DAY. 


\lh:    , 


lif 


what  they  have  of  it  being  mainly  imported  from  Europe.' 
If  America  lias  her  dangerous  foreign  element,  Great  Britaiji 
has  the  Irish  colonies  in  her  cities.     Kor  is  there  iu  America 
any  economical  crisis    like   agricultural  depression  with  its 
social  consequences  in  England,  for  the  recent  financial  storm 
was  the  consequence  of  unsound  management,  over  speculation, 
and  a  deranged  currency  rather  than  of  economical  disturbance! 
The  American  people  are  comparatively  free  from  class  division 
and  jealousy.     They  are  eminently  law-abiding,  and  are  on  the 
side  of  government,   regarding    it   as   their   own;    while  the 
masses  in  England,  the  artisans  especially,  have  learnt  to  think 
of  government  as  a  power  apart  from  them,  if  not  as  their 
natural  enemy.     Xor  does  the  scepticism,  which  in  England  is 
unsettling  society  and  shaking  the  nerve  of  authority,  prevail 
so  much  or  produce  such  effects  ia  a  nation  whi(rh  has  no  State 
Church  to  be  assailed,  the  religion  of  which  is  voluntary,  and 
which  IS  given  more  to  industry  than  theological  speculation. 
In  America  union  has  decisively  triumplied  over  Secession 
In  every  member  of  the  United  Khigdom  disunionism  has  now 
been  set  at  work  for  the  purpose  of  carrying  Irish  Home  Rule. 
America  is  a  commonwealth  with  no  responsibilities  or  liabili- 
ties beyond  itself;   Great  Britain  is  the  centre  of  an  empire 


?  u\ 


>  i 


mt 


1  In  the  first  edition  it  was  here  said  that  America  had  also  "com- 
paratively little,  upon  the  whole,  of  industrial  war,  the  native  Ameri- 
can workman,  as  a  rule,  not  being  given  to  conspiracy  and  striking." 
There  have  since  occurred  the  Coxeyite  movement,  the  coal  strike^'in 
Pennsylvania,  and,  wluU,  is  more  serious  than  either,  the  railway  strike  at 
Chicago.  These  have  ensued  upon  the  depression,  reduction  of  wages, 
and  loss  of  employment  caused  by  a  terrible  financial  crisis.  R  is 
believed  that  the  statement  in  the  original  text,  (jualilied  as  it  was,  was 
true  when  it  was  made,  and  with  regard  to  normal  times.  The  violence 
in  connection  with  the  strikes  was  foreign.  The  railway  strike,  however, 
being,  as  appear-i,  without  justification,  ordained  by  the  fiat  of  an  irre- 
sponsible despot,  and  stopping  tiie  wheels  of  commerce  and  civilisation,  is 
a  terrible  exhibition  of  the  spirit  of  trade  unionism  and  of  the  sufferings 
which  are  in  store  for  connnunities  unless  they  can  protect  themselves 
against  it.  More  has  been  said  on  the  subject  in  the  preface  to  the 
present  editinn. 


'If    ! 


THE  POLITICAL  CRISIS  IN  ENGLAND. 


103 


with  responsibilities  and  liabilities  all  over  the  world.  Ameri- 
can industries  are  natural  and  pretty  sure  to  recover  from  the 
shock;  whereas  of  the  great  industries  of  England,  some  are 
more  or  less  artificial,  owing  their  existence  or  their  magnitude 
to  the  retardation  of  manufactures  by  war  or  misgovernment  in 
other  nations,  and  if  they  receive  a  severe  shock  from  revolu- 
tionary violence  are  not  so  sure  to  recover.  From  the  danger 
of  foreign  war,  with  which  Great  Britain  is  always  threatened, 
America  is  free. 

In  America,  there  can   be  no   amendment   of  the   federal 
constitution  without  the  distinct  announcement  of  the  specific 
amendment  to  be  made,  or  without  tlie  consent  of  three-fourths 
of  the   people,  signified  through   the   State  Legislatures  or 
Conventions.     I^or   can   the   constitutions   of  the   States   be 
amended  without  a  submission  of  the  specific  question  to  the 
people  of  the  State.     So  cautious  is  the  federal  process  that 
there  was  no  amendment  for  sixty  years.     What  takes  place  in 
England?     Not   an   amendment   of   the    constitution,  but   a 
fundamental  change  of  it,  involving  a  legislative  dismember- 
ment of  tlie  United  Kingd(jm,  and  probably  entailing  further 
revolution  of  the  same  kind,  is  concerted  by  a  party  leader 
with  his  Irish  confederates  behind  the  back  of  the  nation,  and 
forced  upon  the  country  by  an  unscrupulous  use  of  the  party 
machine.     Xot  cmly  liad  a  distinct  knowledge  of  the  measure 
been  withlield  from  tlie  people  at  tlie  last  general  election,  but 
with  regard  to   its  principal  feature,  retention  of  the  Irish 
members,  the  people  had  been  totally  misled,  the  framer  hav- 
ing pledged  himself  that  nothing  would  induce  liim  to  be  a 
party  to  an  arrangement  such  as  that  whi(!h  he  afterwards 
proposed.     The  issue,  instead  of  being  submitted  distinctly  to 
the  people,  was  mixed  up  with  a  dozen  other  issues,  some  of 
them  purposely  raised  to  obscure  and  prejudice  it.     The  meas- 
ure was  then  forced  upon  the  House  of  Commons,  most  of  its 
provisions  without  any  fair  discussion,  by  the  closure,  applied 
at  the  Avill  of  a  party  leader,  whose  real  majority,  subtracting 
the  twenty-three   Irish  votes   to   which    Indand  by  his  own 
admission  has  no  title,  was  eleven.      Nor  is  there  anything  to 


!      I' 


104 


QUESTIONS   OK  TIIK   DAY. 


I)r(ivent  otlior  revolutionary  measures  from  being  carried  by 
tli(^  saiu(>  nu'ans  ;is  the  n'peal  of  tlu;  union  with  Irehuul. 

There  is  happily  mwh  in  tlu;  state  of  England  now  unlike 
th(^  state  ol'  I'^rance  on  th((  (ive  of  the  Revolution.      Above  all, 
Knghind  has  in  ]wv  nj>i)er  (dass(!s  a  rescu-veof  moral  and  j.oliti- 
(tal  fonuf  whi(!h  France  had  not,  and  wliieli  extremity  may  call 
forth.     She  is  :ilso  comparatively  free  fnmi  the  financial  difH- 
nilty  whicji   in   Kr;i,nce  l)n)ught  on  tlu^  crash,  tliough  a  larger 
publico  debt,    witli    power   in    the-    hiuids   of   the   mnltitude,   is 
(hing.«rous,  whih^  the  liscal  system  of  Ki.ghind   is  not  without 
peril  sin(!e  it  is  totally  inelastic,  and  tlw;  disus(>  of  any  one 
of  the  great  artiides   of   consumption  uu   which  tiie  revenue 
is    raised    wouhl    produce   a   giva,t   deticit.       IOxpcrienc(^    has 
siiown  that  tiH«  i)eoph.  will  net  bear  a  new  tax,  ami  that  the 
income  tax  or  the  succession  duty  is  the  financier's  only  resort. 
When  the  man.y  vote  the  taxes  and  the  Ivw  pay  tliem,  peril 
surely  nnist    b.>   at   baud;   and  demagogism  has  now  learned 
that  it  ca,u  bribt;  the  masses  with  legislative  largesses  at  the 
exi)ense  of  the  rate-payer  on  a  scah^  far  transcending  the  bri 
bery  of  a  i)rivatc  purse, 

Vnv  a,  few  years  \uu\ov  l\w  commonwealth  England   had  a 
writt;en  constitution.     ( )th<-rwise  she  has  had  only  fundamental 
statub's,  su.'h  as  the  (!r(>at  Charter,  with  its  confirmations,  the 
Petition  of   Kight,  the   ITabeas  Corpus  Act,  and  the  Bill  of 
Hights,   all   of   which    are    restraints  on   the   tyranny  of  the 
Crown,    not   on    the    excesses  of   the   people.    *Not  imly   has 
Kngland  had  no  ,vritten  constitution;   paradoxical  as  the  state- 
ment may  seem,  she  has  had  no  constitution  at,  all,  if  by  con- 
stitution is  meant  a  settled  system  with  fixed  rehdatms  among 
th.>  component  powers.      What  she  has  liad  has  b.vn  a  balance 
of  forces  which,  oscillating  nun-e  or  less  thrcmgh  her  history, 
has  now  been  tinally  upset,  the  (h'own  having  lieen  divested  of 
all   auMiorily.  the    lbms.>  of    Lords   of  all   but  a  susi)ensive 
veto,  while  siipivme  power  is  v.>st.>d  in  the  House  of  Commons 
•u'  in  the  electoral  caucus,  to  which  the  House  of  Commons  has 
its.'ir  in  turn  become  a  slav.>.     What  is  complacently  styled  con- 
stitiiti,>nil  development  has  in   lact  been  a  secular  revolution. 


THE    POLITICAL   CRISIS    IN    ENfJLANI). 


105 


IS 


The  upshot  is  that  whernas  Amorioan  democracy  is  organised, 
liritish  (knnocracy  is  uiiorganis(!d,  and  wliih'  American  democ- 
racy is  providiid,  IJritisli  democracy  is  unprovided,  with  safe- 
guards against  revolution. 

Tlie  hallowed  word  "constituticmal"  lias  been  used  as  if  it 
rejm'sented  something  real  and  (^apabhi  of  Inung  ascertained, 
thongli  ratlier  occult,  some  supri^ne  though  somevvli;it  mystical 
standard  by  which  all  jjolitical  claims  could  be  tried  and  all 
politi(!al  excesses  could  be  restraintid.  This  was  abuost  (iomi- 
cally  appariiiit  on  the  occasion  of  the  repeal  of  the  i)aper  duty 
in  1<S()(),  which  nuide  way  I'm-  a  cheap  press.  The  Commons 
passed  rejx'al,  tlu^  Lords  threw  it  out.  Then  arose  the  question 
whether  the  I^ords,  who  could  not  (constitutionally  initiate  or 
amend  a  taxing  liill,  (;ould  constitutionally  throw  out  a  P>ill 
re})ealing  a  tax,  thus  continuing  the  imi)ost  whieh  tlie  ('om- 
mons  had  voted  away.  A  grand  display  of  [lolitical  nu'ta- 
physics  ensued.  Mr.  Denison,  tlu'u  Speaker  of  the  IFouse  of 
Comnujns,  was  asked  what  he  thought.  "Wliy,"  said  he, 
"they  talk  about  eonstitntional  principle;  but  the  whole  matter 
is  this:  the  L(U'ds  cannot  initiate  a  money  lUll  because  the 
Commons  would  throw  it  ont;  they  cannot  amend  a,  money  Bill 
because  thc^  (Commons  would  disagree  to  the  amendment;  but 
they  can  throw  out  this  liill  repealing  a  tax,  because  there  is  an 
end,  and  the  Commons  have  no  more  to  say." 

The  theory  was  government  by  a,  King  and  legislation  by 
two  Houses  of  rarliaiuent,  one  hereditary  and  aristocratic,  the 
other  eh'ctive  and  popular,  the  two  being  coequal  in  authority, 
(^xce])t  that  the  p()])\da,r  House  had  the  junver  of  tlie  i)urse, 
which  it  gradually  im[)roved  into  suprenuicy.  In  the  reign  of 
I'jdward  I.,  the  magnanimous  ])erpetuator  of  a  revolutionary 
creation,  the  facet  may  have  tallied  with  the  theory.  The 
governnuuit  was  in  the  King,  and  the  Commons,  though  in 
themselves  weaker  than  the  Luids,  may  have  been  strengthened 
by  allianci^  witli  tlie  ('rown.  Under  Edward's  feeble  successor 
the  balances  was  turned  in  favour  of  the  aristocracy.  It  was 
redressed  in  favour  of  the  Crown  by  the  glories  of  Edward 
III.,  though  the  Commons  at  the  same  time,  as  holders  of  the 


II 


'If 


100 


1 


QUIiSTIONS   OF  TllH    DAV. 


urse,  gain,..]  by  the  King'.,  „e«l  of  supplies  for  l,i,  ,„„.,.  a„,I 
lv.oI.a,-d  II    n,  .spite  of  the  .ni.se.a.h.  en.I  of  hi»  fath..,.'s  reig 
.ucoeedea  to  authority,  whieh   hi,  folly  and  that  of  his  fa- 
vouvte,  east  .uvay.     Henry  IV.,  with  a  do«l,tful  tith,  a  ul  a 

ad  „„  the  Ohureh,  wlueh  was  still  a  great  power  in  the  State 

ami    he  alhanee  w,th  whieh  was  cemented  by  the  statute  fo 

the  burmng  of  heretics.     Agineourt  restored  to  the  Crown  an 

;m  hor.ty  wh.eh  was  again  forfeited  by  the  loss  of  FraneZ  the 

nnbee,l,ty  of  Henry  VI.,  and  the  n.isrule  „f  those  wo' M 

h  m  ,n  therr  hands.     The  suicide  of  aristocracy  in  the  Wan 

of  the  Rose,  eft  the  Crown  almost  despotic,  and  its  despotism 

wa.,  enhanced  by  the  ecclesiastical  revolution  under  HeZ 

VIII    after  wh.ch  the  Church  ceased  to  be  a  political  powe, 

and  Its  nrfinence  was  transferred  to  the  Crown.     What  the 

in  altered  trn.es  and  against  the  decisive  tendencies  of  the 
nation.     The  English  Itevolution  in  the  time  of  ZH 
i  ke  the   American  Kevolntiou  and  the  French  Revolution' 
e  eared  the  ground  for  a  new  ediHce.     A  written  c    ,    H 
became  necessary.     A  written  eonstitntion  was  framed  u    le 
he  name  of  the  Instrument  of  Government,  with  a  R™  et 
for  life  a  standing  Council  of  State,  in  the  appointment  o 
wh,ch  the  ,.,.otector  and  Parliament  went  shares  and  as  tie 
House  of  Parliament,  with  a  property  q„,.Iifie,ation  high  eno.H 
than  in  ,t         -fl'-^iWIity  an.l  intelligence,  yet  ™t  higl,; 

Had    he"?''  "'      "Iff 't  """''*  «'"""'='"y  ''"l"'  to  -'tain. 
Had  the  (,ommonwealth  of  England,  Ireland,  and  Scotland 

such  a  constitution  now,  it  would  1».  in  little  danger  of  d!,- 

menibermeut  hy  the  Irish  Celts.     Kepublican  jealousy  and     e 

death  of  the  Protector  just  when  his  system  wa sSn      oo 

preveiited  a  fair  tri.al  of  the  experiment.     Cromw  1,  1  In     If 

had  been  driven  by  the  stress  of  his  conflict  with  irreeoncilab 

Rep  blieans  m  the  Commons  to  have  recourse  to  the  revival  of 

the  Upper  House  in  a  nominative  form.     This  fail,.!,  as  other 

nominative   Senates    have   failed,   and  by   withdra^Wng   t 

strength  of  government  from  the  popular  chamber,  aggravated 


( 
( 
( 
1 

c 

(1 

t 

]l 
i1 
1) 
t] 
ai 


Wi 


x-V 


THE    POLITICAL   CRISIS    IN    KN(JLANI). 


107 


and 


tlu"  .l,H„.ulty  ulurh  it  uus  inten.le.l  to  remove.     The  Restora- 
tion, Lou-ever,  was  a  reaction,  not  a,^.unst  tl.e  Proteetorate,  btit 
ag^unst  tl...  nulitary  anarcl.y  l,y  u'l.ieh  the  I'rotectorate  was 
ollowed.      I)„rmg  the  reign  ol'  Charh^s  II.,  there  was  some- 
thing like  equ,l,lu.H..a,  tliongh  uneasy  and  unsteady,  the  Crown 
a^t  the  tune  of  the  Popish  Plot  being  swept  before  the  popular 
storm,  winle  the  cdose  of  the  reign  was  almost  despotic,  thou.^h 
tyranny  was  exercised  under  strictly  legul  forms.     James  U 
n-pea^ed  the  mistake  of  Charles  1.  in  an  aggravated  shape,  the 
Jesuit  taking  the  place  of  Laud.     With  him  tiie  monarchy  fell 
as  a  constitutional  power,  its  fall  being  only  broken  by  the 
personal  ascemhtncy  of  William  111.,  who  to  the  last  was  his 
own  foreign  minister. 

rower  then  passed  to  the   landed  aristocracy  and  gentry 
whose  chiefs  composed  the  House  of  Lords,  and  who  not  onl^ 
elected  the  county  members  of  the  House  of  Commons  out  of 
their  own  body,  Init  also  contr.dled  the  elections  of  a  large 
part  of  the  borough  members  through  pocket-boroughs  or  by 
local  influence.     Local  government  through  the  Quarter  Ses- 
sions, composed  of  s.iuiresa,s  justices  of  the  peace,  was  lar-^ely 
in  the  same  hands.     Tlie  landounuu-s  had  thoroughly  perfected 
the   system   of  maintaining   the   economic^al   basis    of    their 
ascendancy  by  the  entail  of  their  family  estates.     The  princi- 
pal checks  to  aristocrati(^  ascendaniy  were  the  rivalries  -md 
cabals  among  the  great  families  themselves.     These   and  the 
odium  created  by  aristocratic  seHishness  andcorruption,  enalded 
.oorgelTT.  to  recover  a  large  measure,  not  of  constitutional, 
but  of  backstairs  power.     He  was  able  to  put  a  backstairs  veto 
on  loxs  Lidia  Bill,  as  well  as  to  prolong   by  his   personal 
determination  the  war  witli  the  American  (udonies.     Once  more 
there  was  a  sort  of  equilibrium  among  the  three  powers  in  the 
btate,  the  government  being  largely  in  the  King  or  in  the 
minister  of  his  personal  choice,  while  each  of  the  Houses  had 
its  share  of  power,  the  balance  between  them  being  dressed 
by  the  Parliamentary  patronage  in  the  hands  of  the  Peers  and 
the  manifest  inadcupmcy  of  tlie  unreformed  House  of  Commons 
as  a  representation  of  the  people.     But  the  equilibrium  was 


I: 


'  uj 


t!i 


lOH 


M 


QUKsriMNS   OK    11 1 1.;    dav 


iotnlly  iui.l  loivvcr  (l.ssf.roy,.,!  l,y  i,I„.  ..uiivi.l,  „r  lil„.ri.,]i,sm 
u'lucli  .s(.t,  in  wli.-i,  |,Im.  war  wil.l,  Ni.,|M,l,M,M  was  over,  ovcrtuni- 
niKtlu'  lloiiihoi.  Mioiiairhy  in  K.-ancc  and  :uis(,.„.niti(!  govorn- 
iiicnt,    in  (in-at  UrilMiin  at  iJic  sann-  tinio. 

When    Ml,.   I'.uM-s  .snccnnihi-d  to  tl.c   lidorni    Mill,  Nnpivinc 
P..WIM- passed  d.-linitivHy  to  LI...   Il„ns,.  of  (!„nnnons,  leaving 
>'..tlun.t;t,)tl.,.  I',.,.rs  <M,  any.^-.vat  .p.ostion   l.nt  a  snsponsivo 
veto.     Tiu'  last  lajnt  .'x.T,-is(!  ..r  personal   power  Uy  tlu^  Kin.' 
was  tlM>  dismissal  of  li.e   Wlii-  i\li„i,stry  l.y  William   !V.  in 
1N;!I.       Tlieneerortl.   the  ministers   wlio  formed  the  exeeutivo 
.^overnm.mt   wer..   appointe.l   a,n.l   dismisst..!,  und    th,^    whole 
poJiey  oi   the  kin-d„n,  was  (h>terminod  I)y  the  majority  in  the 
House   or   Commons.      Still    the    phantom    wore '  the' n'own 
St.II  the  nation  helh-ved  its.df  to  be  a,  monarehy,  and   prayed 
«'vrry  Snnday  that  Heaven,  whieli  is  supposed  to  .-nter  kimlly 
'"to  M'o  illusion,   would  dispos.>  the  King's  heart  to  govern 
ari-iit.      A  party  leader  bringing  in  a  party  Uill  for  the  (exten- 
sion of  th,.  sulTrage  eould  say,  and  perha,ps  persuaded  hinisell, 
that  the  effect  of  his  measure  would  be  to  "unite  tln^  Avliole 
pt'ople  in  a,  solid  body  round  their  aneient  throne."     The  same 
politician  points  out  th(>  House  of  J.ordsto  popular  vengeance, 
as  "a  power  not  upon  or  behind   the  throne,  but  between  the 
tl'roneand  the  people,  stopjung  altogether  the  action  of  the 
constitutional  machine."    Conlds.df-delu.sion  or  constitutional 
hypocrisy  further  go?     T1h>    House   of    Lords  has  still  con- 
tmuod  to  be  taken  for  a  co-ordinate  branch  of  the  Legislature. 
Nations  in  (|uest  of   a  constitution    lia,v.>   ccmtinned'   to    imi- 
tate the  British  model  as  they  found  it  described  in  JJlackstone 
or  T)e  Lolme.  and  a,  strange  dance  some  of  them  have  been  led. 
Still  the  Ifous(>  of  (Commons  was  a  government.     It  had  still 
a   nu-asuiv  of  independence  and  of  authority;   it  was  still  a 
national  council.      Its  ehvtorate,  after  th(>  settlenu-nt  of  1,S,']2, 
was  still  tolerably  res])onsil)le   ami  int.dligent.      Nor  was  ]t 
by  tine  fated  adva,nc.e  of  demoeraey  or  by  any  occult  force,  that 
the  settlement  of  1S32  was  broken  n,),  thongh  the  current  of 
European  opinion  was  setting  in  a  democratic  direction      The 
settlement  was  broken  up  by  the  personal  ambition  of  party 


'"'•'    I'n.MTICAL  CKISIS    IN    KN(JLANI). 


10!) 


.".  -.ul.-,.      Il,n„  was  n,  ,,,.my  liu,|,.  |,^,  ,,,.,        ,     " 

w.tl„i,,,wn  lor  a  l,„„,.,  no  ox„ite„„.|,t  follow,,!.     I!„t  it  |,,,| 

.;:::;  ;i'i:;;'f"'''r,:'^'"'"-  :'■ --' ""w/Louo 

"J^       '  l-.l..  .  .1  MM,I  (;,„,s,.,vativo  l.i.l  a..a,ust  o,u,h  oth.T,  a,M 
■c'  |..m.  «.„,»  hnally  lu,o„k,,l  ,lo„„  to  tl,o  Consorvativc  ,,.rtv 

'"  ""'"''"•'''  '""'  -I-  l-'l  f'X'nd  lo,-  l,i,„..|r  a  oar'      a 
;  l«.'t;-.-  n,  a  ,„aK„ato  in.stinot  ,.„o,„l,  with  tho  s,  i.it     f 

;  ts"  'V™ '''''•■  ''"^' «    that   would  '..,li..„ 

Wl  lijs.        I  ,o,-o  ,s  „o  ,,.a«m  to  ,loal,t,  tl.eio  is  .-oo.l  iv.son 

"  bo  ,0V,.    tl,at  i„t,.lli„.„t  a,.ti«u,»  w,,;,!,!  ,,av„  a,:  ,,;,,; 
an  c,I,u.at,„oa,l  ,|„alilioatio„;  l,„t  tl,o  T.oy    l,.a,l,.,.   I,a,l    ,  ., 

:f;'»-'  i-^  "r '; '-  ^'.^""'»  ti»t  i, .a,io :;     • ,  - 

«c  ;  a,„l  h„  l,a,   „o  „,oa,,,|o  i„  aol,i„.  „„  that  a,lvi,„.. 

l.l<..aoml  ,i„al,lioatio„s  of  a„y  roal  valao  ha.o  l«o„  ,wo„t 
away       S„oh  as  aro  loft  will  go;    hof,,,,,  ,o„,,  poH.a  ,s    vo 

Who  ta,„y  that  tho  wo,i„.„  w,ll  voto  opon  tl„.i,.  si,h^     Of  thoso 

;;:;::  ni"  '"V'™-'';-'  ^' «  -,.,,0,.  ;;i"" 

fenorant  o    all  ,iu„stions  of  Stat,.,  liaUo  to  bo  n,islo,l  |„  tho 
gmssost    ,ll,,s,o„s,  h,„a.io.l    away    by   tho    bli,„lost    passL 
cozened  by  the  veriest  ('linrlifinc       r^  ,,    '  'I'^muhs, 

waho.-.  ..oason,  boHovoa  that  tho  Tiohbonr,!      a    ,  .'o  '    „ 
bavo  boon  sent  to  l.a,lia,„ont  with  innucnso  n.ajo.itios,  c™,,, 
-on  a  oan,h,lato  at  tho  tin,.,  of  tho  t.ial.     But  the 

....  ..es  a...,  a  sovoi-oig,,  power,  nn,.,.st,.ai„e,l,  an,l  „a„, 

thio,,  ...  subservient  representatives,  at  any  time  ,nss 

measures  wh.eh  would  shake  soeiety  to  its  fou.ula      ,  '" 

BH  is  ■"""  'T'"""'^  '"'*  •■'''^"  "™'-  ^'  "■■'«'■  '■"■l.i.-e.     The 

,  :i"'  ;"'"  ''  ^'"""'"S  0""  man,  one  vot,.,  forget 

«at  he  .s  the  l„r,l  „f  two  hnn.lred  and  eighty  n,i  lions  o 
Hindoos  who  have  no  vote  n1  'ill    .i,wi  ,-f  ^-i       r    i       '^'^""'^  "^ 
some   rlnv   W     1  ■  \   ,  •  '  '^  ^^'''•^  ^'''^^^  ^^^^^S  mio]lt 

some  day  vote  hini  a,.d  ]ns  <.,ottons  out  of  Hindostan.     Tlie 
American   democracy,    in   spite   of   strong   temptation,    both 


no 


QIIKSTIONS   OK    rii|.;    dav. 


miitoriiil  ;in(l  scntiiiiciital,  sliraiik  lr())ii  tlu;  anricxiition  of 
lliiwiiii  bee;iuK(^  il,  Irlt  its  milituoss  for  the  govornnuMit  of 
(lopciKlciicios  (ivoii  (.11  so  siiiiill  a  scialc  Yet  a  <l("mo(!nu!y  far 
less  ivniilatcd,  and  on  tlu;  wliolo  far  loss  int("]li<,'('ut  Mian  that 
of  America,  is  taking  on  itself  tlu!  government  of  vast  depeml- 
encies  all  over  the  world. 

The   Ifousi!  of  Commons,  after  [mtting  under  its  feet  the 
Crown  and  the  House  of  J.ords,  has  in  its  turn  boon  put  under 
tlie  feet  of  the  eaucuis.     Its  indepeiidenee,   its  authority,  its 
dignity,  and  its  self-respe(!t  are  di'i.arting.     J5y  the  closure  it 
is  reduced  to  a  voting  machine  of  which  the  caucus  turns  the 
(U-ank.      Its  memliers,  instead  of  regarding  themselv(>s  as  free 
counsellors  of  the  nation,  regard  tht-mselves  as  (hdegates  of 
the  (MUCUS,  pledged  to  do  its  bidding,  and,  if  their  conscience 
rebels,  to  resign.     The  other  day  a  (Jladstoiiian,  seeing  the 
deception  which  had  been  praetis(>d  upon  the  (Country  by  the 
frameis  of  the  Home  JIule  ]!ill  in  the  retention  of  the  Irish 
members  and  tlie  infamy  wliicih  was  in  store  for  Great  Britain, 
found  hims(df  unable  to  digest  tin;  liill.     His   duty  to   the 
country  was  to  vote  against  it.     Uut  the  wnstched  law  of  his 
Parliamentary  being  compelled  him  to  decline  that  duty  and 
place  his  resignation  in  the  hands  of  the  caucus  under  the 
form  of  accepting  the  Chiltern  Hundreds.     No  one  doubts  that 
many  a  (iladstonian  has  voted  for  the  Home  Ilulo  liill  under 
the  same  inflnence  and  against  his  sense  of  duty  to  the  coun- 
try.    An  imperious  idol  of  the  caucus  and  impersonation  of 
its  tyranny  can  indulge  his  a.utocratic  temper  by  tram[)ling  on 
the  liberty  and  ma.j(>sty  of  what  was  once  the  for(nnost  assem- 
bly in  the  world.     It  does  not  appear  that  the  Conservative 
members  feel  themselves  much  more  independent   than   the 
Radicals.     If  they  did,  their  leader  Avould  hardly  have  failed 
to  make  use  of  a  majority  of  a  hundred  for  the  jmrpose  of  re- 
dressing the  balance  of  the  constitution  and  jiroviding  safe- 
guards against  revolutionary  violen(u\     Xor  would  he  and  his 
colleagues  have  been  fain  to  bid  against  their  antagonists  for 
popularity  by  paying  tribute  to  socialistic  lladicalism,  which 
they  did  with  the  usual  effect  of  blackmail. 


THK    POLITICAL  CUISLS    IN    UNOLANn.  j^ 

Th.  Septennial  .\.t  still  ,„.c»ervos  t„  „„.„,|„,.,  „,  t|„.  u 
of  (Jciinmons  a  small  nicKurn  „f    •    i         ,  House 

"-'.-  or  Pan :r '• "  ^  ;„.,;■'  ::,"!,-7i""'  ""= 

"I  ^'  l.«i»lativo  i„dop„„,l„nco  off  ,Ts  lo  te'Z  "     ■"'""' 

'■■vtinguisl,.,,,.     A  Ui.t  ,.,.n,na„t  of  I   ,    „      ."Z  h'  *?■  '* 
ami  representation  go  toL-ctLei-  is  loft  in  '""•■"'"" 

This  is  to  be  swont  iwv  T.  "  plurality  of  votes. 

rule.      The   Vr,t   MMste  T"'  ™"  ™'^'  '«  '»  ''"  "» 

instea,!  of  the       h  !a    otl,fT  ;'"""  """  "'"  """^  ""'• 

s::;r----'-~S::^^L:t-^ 
;n  ti,eir  hearts,  ...o.ing  weT:;r  /  ^  rrilr''';""' " 

their  seats.     In  tlieorv  H,p  =,.cf.       .•  *^"^^"  ^'"""1 

n>erit  to  take  the  pSo     ,  fe   Z"  ir™'  ""11"  '°'''^ 
whieh  poverty  presents  it  fro      ukin;  a'rit"       '>• '"' 

incentive  to  men  bv  no  mpinc  r.f         .^'  "^  *'^c<^'  ^^  is  a  direct 

the  noblest  of  antmn^Tr  Jwi  1^^?^^  '",  '""'«^^' 
conntry  will  presently  be  in  the  hand    of  Ln  ?'     ^'''^ 

cians,  drawn  from  acKsswl,i„  ,       ,     P"f'«'S'oi«l  politi- 

to  honest  labour      T  1  I '  f  ?":"^'"l''.^i"8  "P""  the  public 
will  oust  men  of  prindn L       '.o   l.'a"^         '      "'  '"  "'^'^  "■'^"''• 

gain,  will  g.ow  woa:;'^^^f%:^^:™f;,;>;f '-"•''>  r'*"'^  *° 

will  be  disgusted  with  the  task  of  flTe',':''^*'''"' /'''"'"  "'^^ 
the  debasing  tyranny  of  the  "maehine  "     °      °"'''  ■■*""  '""> 

Statesmanship  already  shows  the  influonoe  of  the  «f,        .^ 
incessant  exactions  of  which  leave  n  „,,H  '""P'  ""^ 

rest  or  thought,  an,l  force  Mm    o  be '  "™  "°  '"'^"^  '<» 

«e.f,  prohabfy  beyondr^eZi  ti™s  LT,  T'f  >"  ''™- 
the  crowd.     Peel  as  well  n.  !>;«-,  I,  '^"*  *"  """te 

an  invitation  to  s  ea?  t  Ly  ™o  "^^^  '""  '""'"=«'  "^ 
helievrf  to  have  ,uade  only  t^ S,'  ,  1;™,  „f ''  '^ 
>-"e„t  .„  lus  life,  and  one  of  these  was  a  Llgk   en    nfe      A 


\l 


112 


gUKSIIOXS   dl-'    I  UK    DAY. 


If|, 

I'    * 


ininisti'i' (•(nild  tlicn  Hpfiid  liis  viicntions  in  luai.urinp;  Imh  moiis- 
urcM,  and  lir  cdiild  keep  liis  own  coiinHtds  till  fclio  tiiaii  oiim« 
lor  (lisclosin.nMit'Mi  lo  i'jirliiunrnt..      All  public  m»'n  \v.ul  time 

Tor  study  and   n-Hcction.      Witli  tl idar^ffnicnt  of  tini  ron- 

stituciKMt's  and  tli<i  (ixtcn.sion  (»t'  the  popular  clcnuMit  in  <,'ov- 
ornnumt,  tlui  (diango  ln'canic:  to  some  extent  inevitable.  It 
has  its  eonsetiiKMKM'S  all  the  same,  and  tliey  are  not  inueli  ro- 
dooiuod  by  the  education  which  public  nicctiiif^s  are  su|>posed 
to  ^\\'v.  the  people,  but  which  they  would  rtuicivc  as  well 
throufifh  the  pid)li(!   jiress. 

The  i'allin<,'oH'  in  the  character  of  the  House  of  (loinnions  Is 
apparent  to  all.  A  deliberative  assiunbly,  in  tlu^  proixu-  sense 
of  the  term,  it  nan  hardly  b(>,  said  in  reeont  times  to  have 
been;  for  it  has  always  been  at  onee  too  jiartisan  and  too 
large.  On  any  party  cpiestiou  a,  debate  has  hardly  been  more 
worthy  of  the  name  of  a,  dcdiberation  than  the  exehangn  of  fire 
Octween  two  re«,Mments  in  a,  ba,ttl(>.  iJut  now  the  House  has 
lost,  with  iude])en(h'n('e,  order  and  di<,Miity.  Lanj^niage,  whitih 
half  a  enntury  ago  would  haves  bisen  fatal  to  tho  membcu-  who 
had  used  it,  or  could  have  been  prevented  from  being  fatal  to 
him  only  by  the  most  eomplete  apology,  is  now  iised  with 
impunity;  and  if  the  Speaker  compels  its  withdrawal,  is 
withdrawn  in  a  style  which  amounts  to  a  rei)etition  of  the 
outrage.  Irish  manners  are  uncontrolled.  Wrangling  has  at 
last  culminated  in  a  brawl. 

It  is  strange  to  see  a  society  intellectual,  refined,  luxurious 
even  to  excess,  and  ever  inventing  new  refinements  and  new 
luxuries,  yet  all  tho  time  sedulously  removing  the  barriers 
which  protect  it  from  a  political  deluge.  Talleyrand  said  that 
the  great  motive  power  in  the  French  Kevolution  was  vanity. 
Vanity  is  at  work  hero  too.  Vanity  it  is  that  makes  M. 
Jourdain  i)lay  tho  demagogiu;.  But  the  chief  elenunit  of  dis- 
turbance is  the  madness  of  tho  party  game,  which  that  of  the 
gambling-table  itself  does  not  surpass.  Tarty  politics,  in 
fact,  partake  very  much  of  the  excitement  of  the  Turf  and  are 
sustained  a  good  deal  by  the  same  si)irit.  Paley  thought  that 
the  money  Avliich  he  paid  in  taxes  for  the  support  of  Parlia- 


TIIK   mi.nif.u,  CIIISIS  in   EWiLANIl.  ,„ 

m,.„ta>;yRov.r,,m„,,l  „it,l,  it,  iiv,.|y „,.„,„,,  ,„„,,i  „„j  ,,„„  , 
s p;nt  ,„  ,„,y  ,my  wl„.l,  w„„l,.  lav,.  ...m„.,lc, ,  ,„„,„  Z" 

if  t  woro  o„ly  mom.y  that  this  ,,,„rt  ,„«tl 

I  "' .lauKm.  is  onhanml  l,y  tl,„  ,,„»„i„„  f„,  ,„„„„„„„,„  .,„. 
tl»  K-.ty  wind,  ,,on,„  t„  ,„„v.il.  .,,,1  ,,«.,i„  ,,„„;,„,       "  „; 

viud  „i  ti„,  ,..„  „f  t,,„  „.,. .,,  K„v„i„ti„„,  ,.>,„„  „  „  ;,„  ™:  t 

^-■".i  w,.    ..,-„  tiat  tl,„  »,.,-.t,,l,i,„.  of  ,;i,,,t„r  for  tl,    «  ., 
N.t,o,„.l  ,„  tlu,  «,vat„.,t  ,.v,.„t  „r  th.  tin,.,  .,,,1  that    ho 
t.ng  .„,„,„,„„ty  i.,  hu-g,,,.  th.u,  that   i„tc,,..,te,l    i„       ."i/l 
-MtMon,  or  a„y  .,„n„„H  ,,„„»ti„„  or  th„  day.     Anot    .,  i  ^ 

r  "'f  *--'  «  -"■  l-tti,„  provail  f,,,m  tho  h  ..  t         , 

lowost  »„o,al  «,.a,h,  that  th„y  ,„.Bvail  aiuon.  worn    .1    „ 
H»amo„K  „,„,,.  that  private  ronh-tt.  tal,h,»  ar„  oo ,  „    ,    ' 
-  openly  «.hl  hy  fashionahl,,  lurnituro  „„al„rsi  t"       v,  .^ 
l",ly   m  pantnifT   lor    tho   ,„„.ar„o.l   i.uM-omont,    ".v,.rvl,„I 
yo.rnH  to  oat,  ,lrink,  a,,,!  I,„  „„.rry,  to  war  li„;  .1  ,U   f    il 

hoRi,   lone        Such  a  »p,nt  ■»  „„t  favourahlo  to  the  nutiond 
oo„s,dora  ,on  of  politieal  prohlcMn.s  however  pre,,i„g  a  j 

toioes  wlueh  ,n  tho  end  hurne.l  Franee  into  the  abyss. 

1 1.0  eloet.vo  .sy.stcn,  has  rovealo,!  its  fatal  wo.akness      Tho 

oory  ,s  that  tho  electors  ohoose,  and  that  they  wm  e  o;seTho 

best  man  to  the  extent  of  their  Ii,-l,f=      'i.!        "'"^"°ose  tho 

a..e,ne,,t  bot.eon  tho  theo^an^,'!  fae  ":;.:;: t   Xr: 

mot  in  the  county  court  or  in  the  town  hall    hpl,l    >  . 

can  be  no  contercnco,  no  personal  conmmnication  or  co^^ert "^ 


114 


QlJliSTlONS   OF    rilK    DAV. 


H 


I'll 


any  sort  amoiif;'  the  electors  in  ;i  ln,r,ij(>  (ionstituoncy.  These 
particaps  of  political  |)o\vei'  aro  a,s  the -^MMiiis  in  a  sand-heap, 
which  cannot  comhinc  or  co-operat(^,  tliougli  they  may  he 
bh)\vn  in  the  same  direijtion  by  the  wind.  What  is  to  hrin.i-- 
them  together?  What  is  to  designate  For  them  tlie  eandi(hites 
wliom  tli(\y  cannot  (h;signate  tor  themselves?  What  is  to  com- 
bine the  votes  of  a  sullicient  nund)er  of  tlunn  to  constitute  a 
majority  and  form  a,  basis  I'or  a  government?  The  practical 
answer  is,  organised  party.  So  inevitable  does  this  expedient 
appear,  and  so  thoroughly  are  av(^  inured  to  it,  that  som(! 
political  philosophers  have  begun  to  rc'prescuit  the  division 
into  two  parties  as  seated  in  human  nature,  every  child  being, 
as  the  comic  opera  has  it,  "born  a  little  Conservative  or  a 
little  Liberal."  One  writer,  assuming  party  to  be  an  ordi- 
nance of  nature,  fancies  that  he  has  discovered  its  law,  whicih 
is  that  of  alternate  ascendancy,  with  a  change  at  each  general 
election;  so  that  at  each  election  the  party  whose  turn  it  is  in 
th(>.  course  of  nature  to  bo  beaten  will  have,  for  the  mainte- 
nance of  the  system,  knowingly  to  fight  a  hopeless  battle. 
These  philosophers  do  not  observe  that  you  might  as  Avell  try 
to  bisect  a  Avave  as  humanity,  that  the  shades  of  temperament 
are  numberless,  that  the  same  man  is  conservative  on  some 
subjects,  lib(u-al  on  others,  that  political  temperament  varies 
Avith  a,ge,  old  men  being  generally  conservative,  but  also  varies 
Avith  circumstance,  your  young  aristocrat  being  the  niost  vio- 
lent conservative  of  all.  ]S"or  do  tliey  observe  that  this  sys- 
tem, Avhich  they  suppose  to  be  a  universal  necessity  of  human 
natiire,  is  in  truth  a  recent  product  of  British  politics  or  of 
the  ])olitics  of  nations  Avhicli  have  folloAved  the  leading  of 
England.  Factions  of  course  there  AA^ere,  Avitli  the  usual  con- 
sequences of  faction,  at  Athens,  in  Rome,  and  in  the  Italian 
Republics.  I'.ut  this  system  of  government  by  two  parties, 
perpetually  contending  for  the  offices  of  State,  and  each  trying 
to  nuike  governuKMit  by  the  other  impossible,  is  a  modern 
British  institution.  By  the  hypothesis  both  ])arties  are  neces- 
sary to  the  system.  Why,  then,  should  each  of  them  be  n.hvays 
denouncing  and  trying  to  exterminate  the  other?     Party  may 


THE    I'OLITICAL   CJU8IS   IN  ENGLAND.  „5 

„.  ,  ,"  ":"'  '""■'"^'  '"=  «-M'™tecl  that,  n„n-«ly  f„,.  tl,: 

"■  ll.u,,  h  ,.,  «,  that  you  w,ll  have  the  hjue.st  nriiidnhl  ,.f 

tl.M  .1.  1       <■      '"»'  ''^■'  ^^^^  J'mltiphcutioii  of  political  sects 
tlie  chisli   oi  spe(;Kil   interests    ■nwl   fi,         i  i  ' 

^o.,t.,th,..-;:-;t,;;.i;r:t;:ri,jj:t';:s 

l«"ty  govenMM,.„t  im,,„„.sibk.     Kv.m  i„  the   Bri  kh  ,    ° 

/•  ,      *'*^"^'^"y  "}  ins  personal  asceiulaiicv   •md  l.v 

ece„t,ng  or  l,„yi,„  support  whe.-evex-  he  eouh.  fi  , ,'  '^ 

l'nu,c..,  the  n,Htul,ility  has  been  aiannu...     1„  Ita  y  .  Late 
«.-a  ,o„  went  to  such  a  le„,,th  that  tht.  h.ade,.     ft'     Cj 
...  had  to  co„.e  to  an  „n„e..,,tanmng,  and  n.ake  an  a      ,  ^e! 
ne  t  lor  the  pn,.pose  ot  averting  l'a,.]ianu.„ta,y  ana.vhy      In 
.'"H^'"'l  -"1  K.4'i."n  the  san,e  speetaeh,  i..  see  ,.  7,;,t,.i 

,   govennnents    ha.,,  been  ephenu.-al  to  a  een.iea    d       " 
lu  l...ghuul,  the  newly  enlVauehise,:  and  i,n„,,„,t  n.asses  bein:: 


5 
I 

i     , 

i„  - 
I     ■*  s 


116 


QUESTIONS  OF  THE   DAY. 


led  by  a  name,  the  only  thing  they  can  understand,  we  have 
had  a  strong  demagogic;  leadership,  wliich,  however,  to  sustain 
it  re(iuires  largesses  of  destruction.  In  Canada,  there  has 
been  a  stability  of  corruption.  Tliese  are  accidents.  The 
general  tendency  is  towards  the  dissolution  of  party  and  of  the 
government  tliat  rests  on  it.  Foresight  and  continuity  of 
policy  are  impossible  under  these  conditions.  At  the  same 
time  a  fatal  facility  is  given  to  every  selfish  interest  and 
every  fanatical  sect  of  compassing  its  pet  object  by  playing 
upon  the  balance  of  party  and  tiius  forcing  tlie  nation  to  do  its 
will.  Of  this  the  Silver  Kill,  forced  upon  Congress  by  the 
votes  of  the  Silver  States,  is  one  example;  another  is  the  anti- 
national  and  degrading  homage  paid  alike  in  the  United  States 
and  in  England  to  the  Irish  vote. 

The  truth  is  that  the  system  of  party  and  cabinet  government, 
with  all  the  philosophy  whicli  it  has  generated,  is  tlie  peculiar 
growth  of  the  political  situation  in  England  consequent  upon 
the  Kevolution  of  1G88.     Even   'n  the  time  of  Charles  II., 
though  tliere  were  Tories  and  Whigs,  there  does  not  seem  to 
have    been   party  organisation;  what  was  a  cabinet  in  germ 
was  dubbed  as  a  cabal.     The  parties  for  a  time  were  dynastic, 
the  struggle  between  the  Stuart  and  Hanoverian  lines  having 
been  transferred  from  the  field  of  battle  to  the  political  field, 
and  thus  each  of  them  had  a  bond,  moral  after  its  fashion,  or 
at  all  events   superseding   the  ordinary  obligation  to  follow 
conviction  on   particular   (questions.     Afterwards,   when   the 
dynasti(!   struggle  had  subsided,  tlie  parties,  especially  that 
of  tlie  great  Whig  houses,  were  closely  identified  with  family 
connection,  and  with  the  struggles  of  different  secitions  of  the 
aristocra(iy  for  power  and  place.     The  i)layers    in  the  game 
were  all  born  members  of  a  ])olitical  and  social  circle,  owing 
allegiance  to  its  interests  and  traditions.     The  popular  element 
Avas  small  and  the  scope  for  demagogism  very  narrow.     Cabal 
and  corruption  there  might  be,  and  there  were  on  a  scandalous 
scale,  but  there  was  not  the  slightest  danger  of  Parliamentary 
anarchy  or  of  revolution.     The  country  was  in  the  hands  of  a 
single  class,  that  of  the  landed  aristocracy  and  gentry. 


or 


THE  TOLITICAL   CUISIS  IN  ENGLAND.  „j 

a  proud  and  ,ni„.,  „.Mo„  ,„:  teer,,.  p  iLT:  L:"f' 
to  a  contemptible  (!onsnii"K.v  nn  i  i  '"P^^^ea  to  suiTeuder 
only  of  dis,ne„,b,n.m"  r  S;"  i;rP"' ,'""''  '"'*'  "°' 
that  of  allowin,  Ind  J;d  1 1,  a  t^  ^  f 'oT  f'" ''"^'  ''^ 
»end  eighty  ,„e,ubo,.  to  tl,e  ISritish  Pari  „lt  n  '  """■  '" 
of  coeicion  for  the  purpose  „f  eentrol^nl  ]  ">"  ,  r  '^'""'T 
InsMutere.  a.,  .eep.,  t„e  ..e.^r  ^f  Z"; - 

would  have  ended,  Uke  tluft  Lit"  O-Br fe'' L""  "t"'  " 
garden.  Instead  of  takin.-  the  Hell  ft  I  V  ,"  ""''''^Se 
the  scene  of  its  operatio,.:  "id  ™  !, '  n^^  of '  Xr  1 
tried  to  wreck  tlie  Hou^p  ..f  ri  !  ^  P^^^^'  ^^^ 

it.  agrarian  „,n,:S::il™^^^^^^^^^^^^ 
paign  of  organised  outrage  in  Ireland      H^  1  IT   Z      "™" 
Con,n,ons  not  been  taetion-st vi  ken   and  ^.?!  f,"'"'  °* 

attenjpt  to  >vreek  it  by  obstruetio.rU^d  Z^CnlV''' 
put  down,  if  necessary  by  the  exi.ulsin,,  Jl  "* 

The  Liberal  gover„n.ent  k  i Is  d^       faf  a      rr'""'""' 
."«.t  can.     ,t  procured  the   necessl;   l^  .;  C  urr^" 

tive  pait^,  tlieu  ,n  opposition,  l.ad  for  numy  years  beenw[ 
the  principle,  enunciated  in  an  article  entitled  ^Flii      .       ' 
^,    which  appeared  in  the  ^^...^.^^"oif  St^i:; 
or  the  unveilin"-  of  ;i  ^fifnn  ,>+■  t      i  7>  occasion 

ii"o  or  a  statue  of  Lord  Beaconsfield : 

reason  or  other,  an  unknown  master  of  tu  ;,,      ^f"'  '''  «°"^« 

very  secondary  function   of  movino.   .     '';";'"  "'^■'  '''^'1  reserved  the 
Northcote  for  l.avin,,  unveiled  til   :(■  tue      Sn     l.    '     '  '"   '''''  ^'^^^'"^'^ 

the  various  Conservative  associ    L^' o     u.^e::^;^,^  ""  '''''''''  '' 

me  eve  of  tlie  ceremony,  Lord 


118 


QUESTIONS   OF  THE   DAY. 


I* 


,1; 


I!    i 


m 


nt;  [ 


Salisbury  comlemned  in  forcible  language  'the  temptation'  which,  he 
said,  '  was  strong  to  many  politicians  to  attempt  to  gain  the  victory  by 
bringing  into  the  lobby  men  whose  principles  were  divergent,  and  whose 
combined  forces,  therefore,  could  not  lead  to  any  wholesome  victory.' 
Excellent  moralising,    very   suitable   to   the  digestions  of  the  country 
delegates,  but  one  of  those  puritanical  theories  which  party  leaders  are 
prone  to  preach  on  a  platform,  wliich  has  never  guided  for  any  length  of 
time   tlie   action  of   politicians  in   the  House  of  Commons,  and  which, 
whenever  apparently  put  into  practice,  invariably  results  in  weak  and 
inane  proceedings.     Discriminations  between  wholesome  and  unwhole- 
some victories  are  idle  and  unpractical.     Obtain  the  victory,  know  how 
to  follow  it  up,  leave  the  wholesomeness  or  unwholesomeness  to  critics. 
Lord  Salisbury,  when  he  used  the  words  (pioted  above,  nmst  have  for- 
gotten that  a  few  hours  later  he  was  going  to  take  part  in  unveiling  the 
statue  of  a  statesman  whose  whole  political  life  was  absolutely  at  variance 
with  Lord  Salisbury's  maxim.    The  condemnation  of  a  particular  method 
of  gaining  political  victories  was  in  reality  a  condemnation  of  the  political 
career  of  the  Earl  of  Beaconslield."     Fortniyhtly  lieoiew,  May,  1883. 

The  conscious  heir  of  Elijah's  mantle  had  a  precedent,  at 
once  exact  and  iueniorable,  lor  the  design  which  he  now  formed 
and  induced  his  party  to  adopt,  in  tlie  very  manueuvre  by 
which  Elijah  himself  had  originally  climbed  to  power.     In 
184G  the  lAIinistry  of  Sii   Kobert  Peel  was  thrown  out,  his 
l)arty  was  broken  up,  and  the  way  was  cleared  for  the  rise  of 
Mr.  Disraeli  to  leadershi])  by  a  coalition  of  the  Protectionist 
Conservatives  with  the  Whigs,  lladicals,  and  Irish  against  an 
Irish  Coercion  Pill.     I]y  this,  and  a  series  of  applications  of 
tlie  same  strategy,  i  continued  for  thirty  years,  the  character  of 
the  Conservative  party,  once  the  party  at  all  events  of  honour, 
had  been  reconstructed  on  strategical  principles,  and  was  ready 
for  Elisha's  manipulation.     As    in   184G,  the   Conservatives 
virtually  coalesced  with  the  rebel  Irish,   and  by  the  united 
vote  the  Liberal  government  was  thrown  out,  the  author  of  the 

1  See  Lord  Malmesbury's  .Vnnoirs,  Vol.  L,  page  424  :  "  Fehrminj 
9th  [J5.-5/].  -(Jovernment  beaten  in  the  House  of  Commons  on  a  motion 
of  Mr.  Cliambers  to  investigate  the  claims  of  an  English  company  at 
Madeu-a  against  the  Portuguese  Government.  I  fear  Disraeli  voted  ac^ainst 
tlie  Government,  as  it  is  his  policy  to  join  with  anybody  in  order  to  defeat 
them." 


THE   POLITICAL  CRISIS  IN   ENGLAND.  119 

sclieme,  when  the  division  was  annonnced,  jumping  upon  the 
benches  and  waving  ins  handkerchief  in  frantic  joy.  Of 
the  Conservative  party,  the  head  was  a  marquess  with  every- 
thing to  hit  him  above  tlie  vulgar  influences  of  faction.     Yet 

appioached  with  a  strategical  proposal,  that  while  he  was  a 
Conservative  and  would  gladly  see  power  in  Conservative 
hands,  he  was  above  all  things  an  English  nobleman,  and 
would  never  sanction  an  attempt  to  overtlirow  the  Queen's 
Covernment  when  it  was  struggling  witli  rebellion.  Then 
fol  owed  the  abandonment  of  the  Act  for  the  protection  of  life 
and  property  in  Ireland,  and  the  Maamtrasna  debate,  with  the 
speeches  of  Lord  Kandolph  Churchill  and  Sir  Michael  Hicks- 
Jieach,  condeinnea  by  the  most  honourable  organs  of  their 
own  party.  Let  us  be  just  and  remember  the  share  which  the 
Conservative  party  as  Avell  as  the  Gladstonian  party  has  had 
in  bringing  all  this  disaster  and  disgrace  on  the  country 

A  uissolution  of  Parliament  ensued.     Up  to  this  time  the 
Liberal  leader  had  treated  the  Irish  movement  as  rebellion, 
bad  denounced  its  leader  as  "wading  through  rapine  to  dis- 
memberment," had  himself  announced  the  arrest  of  Parnell  to 
an  applauding  multitude  at  Guild  Hall,  had  imprisoned  him 
and  scores  o    his  followers  without  trial  under  the  Crimes  Act, 
had  been  willing  to  part  with  three  members  of  the  Cabinet 
rather  than  that  the  Crimes  Act  should  not  be  renewed      He 
went  to  the  country  asking  for  a  majority  which  would  enable 
Inm  to  settle  tl.e  Irish  question  independently  of  Mr.  Parnell 
^uul  his  followers.     This  the  Irish  prevented  by  voting  with 
the    Conservatives,    exemplifying   tliereby    the   influence   of 
unscrupulous   minorities  under   the   party  system.     Finding 
tlien  that  he  had  lost  power,  and  that  he  could  only  regain  it 
by  aul  of  the  Irish  vote,  the  Liberal  leader  at  once  threw  him- 
self into  the  arms  of  the  rebels,  and  of  their  confederates  the 
Ameruian  i^enians,  avowed  enemies  of  the  British  nation.    He 
who  had  been  half  a  century  in  public  life,  had  been  often  as 
Cabinet  Minister  responsible  for  irisli  measures,  and  had  him- 
self disestablished  the  Irish  Church,  pretended  that  up  to  this 


120 


QUESTIONS  OF  THE  DAY. 


time  he  had  been  ignorant  of  the  Irish  question,  ignorant  of 
the  leading  facts  of  Irisli  l.istory,  andtliata  new  light  had  now 
dawned  upon  his  mind.  He  declared  that  when  he  threw 
1  arnell  and  his  followers  int.,  gaol  h,.  lu.d  not  understood  what 

H   T"!}."  .""^J"''^'  '""'"■     ^^*^  ^""^  ^'''^^'  ^^'  tl'e  edifieation 
of  the  faithful  a  history  of  the  previous  workings  of  his  own 

mind,  showing  that  it  had  long  been  tending  towards  Home 
l.ule;  an  avowal  wliieh  implied  that  he  had  been  all  the  time 
eommittmg  the  nation,  and  allowing  hi,  -..n,uesto  pledge 
themselves  night  after  night -his  Hoi  u-etary  in  the 

most  desperate  style -to  a  policy  wliich  in  i.is  lieart  he  sus- 
pected to  be  wrong.      In  (concert  with  the  rebel  leaders,  now 
transformed  from  inmates  of  his  gaols  into  his  privy  coun- 
sellors and  his  masters,  he  framed  a  measure  virtually  for  the 
repeal  of  the  Union;  that  Union  of  which  he  had  been  wont  to 
speak  as  the  grand  achievement  of  Pitt,  and  the  one  effectual 
guarantee  of  peace  between  religious  factions  in  Ireland,  but 
which    he    now   denounced  as   a    masterpiece   of  fraud   and 
iniquity,  using  in  his  transports  of  rhetorical  fury  even  coarser 
terms.     That  the  new  light  which  dawned  upon  the  leader's 
mmd  at  the  moment  when  he  found  the  Parnellite  vote  indis- 
pensable to  him  should  have  dawned  at  the  same  moment  on 
the  minds  of  his  followers  passes  ordinary  belief.     Bright 
who  did  not  speak  at  random,  averred  that  there  were  not 
twenty  members  of  the  Liberal  party  outside  the  Irish  section 
really  m  favour  of  their  leader's  Bill,  which  was  as  much  as  to 
say  that  the  mass  voted  under  the  lash  of  party  against  their 
consciences  for  that  which  they  must  have  known  was  ruinous 
to  their  country.     So  much  for  the  aphorism  that  party  is 
a  kind  of  patriotism.      Beaten  by  the  vote  of  the  independent 
section  of  his  followers,  and  maddened  by  defeat,  the  Liberal 
leader  broke  all  bounds  and  gave  the  restraints  of  patriotism 
to  the  winds.      He  who  owed  all  to  culture  and  the  support  of 
the  cultivated,  appealed  to  the  lowest  and  the  worst  passions 
of  the  multitude,  the  jealous  hatred  of  the  "  masses  "  for  the 
classes,"   of   the   ignorant  fur   those   better   educated   than 
themselves.     He   recklessly   falsified   history   to   prove   that 


!U 


THE   POLITICAL  CRISIS   IN  ENGLAND. 


121 


intelligence    had    always    been    the    enemy   of   justice.      He 
rekindled  tlie  cold  ashes  of  provincial  anti])athy  in  Scotland 
and  Wales  as  well  as  in  Ireland.     To  intianu;  Irish  rebellion, 
he  revived  and  exaggerated  the  evil  memories  of  Irish  history. 
He  abetted  resistance  to  law  in  Ireland,  bidding  an  excitable 
and  savage  race  "  remember  Mitchelsto wn. "     Uecause  England 
bad  voted  against  liini,  he,  the  son  of  a  Liverpool  merchant, 
bred  at  Eton  and  Oxford,  having  sat  almost  all  bis  life  for 
English  constituencies,  having  owed  liis  entrance  into  Parlia- 
ment to  tlie  ])atronage  of  an  English  nol)leman,  renounced  the 
name  of  Englishman,  traduced  England  in  a  foreign  press, 
welcomed  the  cahunnies  of  her  foreign  assailants.     He  allied 
bimself   morally   with   declared   enemies    of  the    realm,   the 
Fenians  of  the  United  States,  and  received  assistance  in  elec- 
tions from  tbeir  dynamite  fund.     A  Conservative  more  than 
half  his  life,  who,  if  the  place  had  been  oi)en,  would,  as  many 
thought,  liave  been  leailiug   the   Conservative  party,  he  put 
bimself  at  tlie  head  of  revolutionary  radicalism  and  dallied  with 
all  the  spirits  of  confiscation  and  destruction.     He  who  had 
nphehl  Cburch  establishment  on  the  higliest  principles,  held 
out  disestablishment  as  a  bribe  to  get  votes  for  his  Irish  policy. 
At  last,  after  solemnly  pledging  himself  never  to  consi'ut  to 
the  retention  of  an  Irisli  rei)resentation  in  the  British  I'arlia- 
ment  when^  Ireland  had  a  Parliament  of  her  own,  he  carried 
with  his  Irish  confederates  a  measure  retaining  eighty  Irish 
members  to  coerce  Great  Britain.     The  Lords  liaving  rejected 
a  Bill  from  a  leading   pro   isiun  of  which   members   of  the 
Cabinet  in  that  House  allowed  it  to  be  seen  in  debate  that 
they  dissented,  he  threatened   them  with    destruction.     But 
knowing  tliat  an  appeal  from  their  verdict  to  tlio  nation  on  the 
simple  issue  of  Home  Rule  would  result  in  his  defeat,  he  put 
off  his  appeal  till  he  should  have  had  time  to  inflame  and  con- 
fuse the  mind  of  tlie  people  by  a  number  of  revolutionary 
proposals,  hoping  thus  to  force  through  his  Irish  measure  on 
false  issues.     This  policy  is  in  effect  avowed  by  his  partisans 
without  shame.     How  mucli  of  tliis  treatment  do  the  upholders 
of  party  government  think  that  any  country  can  bear?     The 


122 


QL'ESTlOxNS   UF  THE   JJAV 


k 


lii-jhcr  you  place  Mr.  (Iladstone's  intellect  and  character,  the 
greater  his  imhYw.  services  in  former  days  have  been,  the  more 
tremendous  is  the  lesson. 

We  liave  seen  also  the  tendeney  to  demag()gi(;  despotism 
inherent  in  the  system  of  universal  suffrage  with  large  and 
ignorant  nuisses.    Incapable  of  self-guidance,  the  nuisses  hlimlly 
follow  a  leader  about  whom  nuuiy  of  tluau  know  nothing  but 
his  name,  but  whom  they  liave  been  taugiit  to  regard  at  the 
man  of  the  people.     The  result  is  a  state  of  things  far  from 
identical  with  genuine  liberty.     "Old  Hickory,"  tlie  idol  of 
the  American  populace,  in  the  hour  of  his  asceiidancy  was 
enabled  to  trample  on  real  freedom  in  the  United  States  nuich 
as  a  "G.O.M."  is  now  enabled  to  trample  on  real  freedom  in 
Great  Britain.     American  admirers  of  Mr.  Gladstone,  looking 
on  at  the  scene,  admit  that  he  lias  hardly  any  sui)i.orters  among 
tlie  upper  or  middle  classes,  that  is,  in  tlie  classes  of  intelli^ 
gence,  the  iuHuence  of  wliich  it  thus  appears  may  be  eliminated 
from  government  when  the  uninformed  nuiltitude  finds  a  man 
after  its  heart. 

As  it  is  in  national,  so  it  is  in  nmnicipal  affairs.     Here, 
also,  for  large   constituencies,  the  elective  system  seems  to 
break  down.     In  former  ages  the  city  was  a  social  and  politi- 
cal unit;  the  citizens  knew  each  other;  they  met  in  the  town 
hall  or  in  their  guilds;    the  great  merchants,  Avho  now  live 
apart  in  suburban  villas,  lived  witliin  the  walls  in  daily  inter- 
course   with    tlieir    fellow-citizens,   exenused    their    natural 
leadership,  sought  and  lield  municipal  office.     A  city  now  has 
no  unity.      It  is  merely  a  densely  peopled  distric^t  requiring  a 
special  administration.     There  is  no  mutual  intelligence;  a 
man  does   not  know  his   next-door  neighbour;  sometimes  in 
London  he  does  not  know  his  next-door  neighbour's  name. 
Conferencte  for  tlie  purpose  of  an  elective  choice  is  no  longer 
possible  in  great  cities.     Some  one  there  must  be,  then,  as^'in 
the  case  of  a  political  constituency,  to  designate  the  candidates 
and  combine  the  votes.     AVho  is  it  to  be?     The  answer  is,  the 
ward  i)oliti(!ian,  who  (l(>signates  himself,  or  is  designated  by 
Tammany  as  the  candidate,  and  organises  the  constituency  or 


'•'IH    I'OLITJCAL    ClilSIS    IN    KNGLAXU. 


123 


Ims  Tan)  nuny  t.,  ^.■^.,nis.  it  lo,.  I,i,„.  Uv,  lik.  thn  profes- 
sional politKuun  or  tlH.  ],UMv,.  ,sph,.r.,  into  wl.o.n  in  l\u-t  he  will 
presently  develop,  devotes  himselF  to  the  eullin^  in  which  he 
hnds  his  interest,  ;.n   interest  too  olten  like  that  whieh' was 

1  we..d.     He  has  his  organisation  always  on  foot.     If  in  an 
acH^ss   ot    niunieipal    patriotism   you    attempt    to   oust    him 
i-espondlug  to  the  ery   whieh    everlastingly  j^oes   up  for  2 
eleetion  of  bet.n.  n.en,  you  find  yourself  -i^  ^tnate^r  j^o^^ 
o  a  professional,  a  casual  interloper  eontendin^^  with  the  re^ni- 
ar  master  of  the  ficdd.      I  [e  knows  all  about  the  eonstitnen^y 
cspeeially  the  more  eorruptible  or  gullible  part  of  it,  while  vm 
know  nothing.     His  foi.es  are  always  oii  foot.     Your    l.a  e 
o  be  set  on  toot  with  infinite  trouble  and  no  small  eost      It  is 
l.ardy  possible  even  to  start  a  movement  for  the  improvement 
of  elections.     The  great  merchants  will  have  nothing  "I 
with  munieipal  reform;  they  cannot  afford  to  leave  their  busi- 
ness, they  utterly  refuse  themselves  to  hold  the  offices,  they 
shi-mk  with  aversion   from  an  acrimonious  and  often  dirty 
struggde.     When   the  corruption  or  misgovernment  becomes 
insufferable,  as  it  did  at  .\cw  York  in  the  time  of  Tweed  there 
IS  a  spasm  of  reform.     This  passes  away,  you  slide  baJk  into 
the  old  hands,  and  city  government  runs  once   more  in  its 
groove.     We  see  what  has  happened  in  ^^ew  York,  where  not 
many  years  after  the  exposure  and  overthrow  of  Tweed  there 
wei.  scandals  of  the   same  kind,  though  in  magnitude  les 
portentous.     Men  of  the  class  of  ward  politicians^  if  they  are 
not  paid,  will  hud  some  way  of  paying  themselves.     If  there 
IS  not  speculation  there  will  be  jobbery.     Always  there  will  be 
waste  arising  from  want  of  skill,  foresight,  or  system,  and  from 
the  general  character  of  the  government,  wliich  is  political 
when  for  municipalities   it  ought  to  be  scientific.     The  first 
object  of  aldermen  or  city  councillors  is  to  secure  their  own 
i-e-e lection.     In  the  Middle  Ages  municipal  government  had 
to  do  with  franchises,  witli  trade  rules,  with  the  defence  of 
oity  liberties  against  royal  or  feudal  rapacity.     It  had  little 
or  nothing  to  do  with  sanitary  matters  or  education,  and  nol 


124 


QUESTIONS  OF    11  IK    DAV 


^ 


!1||I 


n  I 


much  to  do  wiMi  police.     The  (Icpurtincnt  of  cducatioi,.  if  it 
IS  a  muni.-ip:.!  affair,  will   he  foim,!  f,o  lapse  into  the  same 
haiuls  as  the  rest.     Hf-nce  i)hilosoi)Iiic  ohservers  of  American 
Mistitiitions  toll  you,  aud  every  on(^  on  the  continent  repeats, 
that  tht^  great  i)rol)leiu   is  city  government.     American  and 
Canadian  cith's  an;  well  governed  in  jiroportion  as  the  admin- 
istT-ation  is  not  (deceive,  but   has   hy  the  good  sense  (.f  the 
peoi)le  heen  made  over  to  skilled  otllcers  or'  stamling  commis- 
sions.    The  best  governed  city  of  all  is  Washington,  which, 
being   in  a    Federal  district,    is   in   the   hands  ..f   three  com- 
missioners ai)pointed,  like  other  Federal  olticers,  by  the  Presi- 
dent of  the    UnittMl  States  with  the  consent  of  the  Senate. 
There  is  a  city  (k'bt,  the  bequest  of  a  former  r.^gime,   but  it 
is   being  reduced,  and    everybody   seems   satistied    with    the 
administration;  indeed,  this  is  one  of  the  attractions  to  resi- 
dence at  Washiugton.      Fn  fa(;e  of  all  this  e.xperien(;e  and  of  the 
moral  to  which  it  points,  the  T.ritish  Parliament  bestows  on 
Jionckm,  in  tin;  (piarters  of  whicih  there  is  no  unity  or  power 
of  collective  choice,  an   elective    government.      Already  the 
London  Council  seems  to  be   h.ighly   demagogic,  and    lik.dy 
to  repel  resnlence  as  much  as  Washington  attracts  it.     Aln^ady 
It   seems   to  be   a  paradis(i    of  municipal    agitators;  the  cuty 
will  be  lucky  if  it  does  not  presently  become  a  paradise  o'f 
Tweeds.     Keally  good  men  may  come  forward  and  be  elected 
at  Hrst,  but  experience  seems  to  show  that  they  will  tire  and 
that  the  future  belongs  to  the  ward  politician. 

If  by  government  is  meant  anything  possessed  of  authority 
or  controlling  power,  Great  Britain  and  the  ]<]mpire  are  likely 
to  be  without  a  government.  This  is  a  case  in  which  the 
pohticKUi  most  averse  to  speculative  architecture  and  with 
least  in  him  of  Sieyes  must  admit  that  it  is  time  to  look  over 
the  building  and  see  what  repairs  it  needs.  If  the  late  Con- 
servative government  (iould  have  relied  upon  its  men,  this  is 
what  It  might  have  done.  But  the  task  was  renounced  when 
the  Prime  Minister  took  the  Foreign  Office,  and  instead  of 
giving  his  mind  to  political  reconstruction  gave  it  to  diplo- 
matic mysteries.     What  do  the  masses,  whose  votes  decide 


Tin.:    POLITICAL   CKISLS    IN    iONHiLANI).  1^5 

the  fate  of   an  ("inpiiv,  care  for  diplomacy ?     What  do  thev 
<-are  ev.Mi    for   Hnan...?     The  ,.hi,>f  elf.rt  ,d'    Mr.   (io.s.-he.i's 
hnll.ai.t  a.'hievoinonts  an  (M,i,„,rllor  of  the  Kx..h...,„n-,  in  the 
mortal  struggh,  which  followed,  was  proh.ldy  to  ttirn  against 
Mr.  (.c,schen  s  cause  a  nund.er  of  p,.„pl..  ,vitl.  small  incomes 
whose  .hvidends  he  had  reduced  by  his  conversion  of  the  fun.ls 
I  here  are  those  who  think  n.,  authority  ne.K'ssary.     Anar- 
chists, <,    course,  think  this,  though  it  may  he  presumed  that 
•f.  anan-hist,  il  you  broke  his  head  or  stole  his  purse,  would 
provisu.nally,  and  all  ehuneras  reserved,  appeal  to  tlH,  police 
But  the  extreme  theory  of  popular  governnumt  conges  pretty 
nearly  to  the  san.e  thing.     Its  practical  issue,  as  we  have  seen 
IS  the  govennnent  of  the  caucus,  the  ''boss,"  and  William 
Iweed;   Its  tendency  is  to  chronic  revolution.     Let  govern- 
ment be  so  ordered,  if  possible,   that  our  increased  cmlight- 
eument,  our  advatu-es  in  civilisation,  our  quickened  sense  of 
pubho  mterests,  the  elevation  of  our  aims  and  hopes,  all,  in 
short   that  makes  us  more  wortliy  of  the  nan.e  of  a  commu- 
nity than  were  nations  in  the  earlier  stage  of  ev.dution,  n.ay 
tell  on  Its  character;  without  a  government  we  can  hardly  do 
ihe  aim  of  tlie  n.oderate  Liberal  is  a  government  with  real 
authority,  national,  not   partisan,  raised   above   the  passions 
and  delusions  of  the  hour,  stable  enough  to  pro.luce  confidence, 
yet  responsible  and  open  to  the  infl.ience  of  opinion,  the  free 
expression  of  which  has  been  the  one  clear  gain  of  all  these 
revolutions.     Government  of  the  people,   Lincoln  said,  was 
never  to  perish  from  the  earth.     It  was  perishing  when  Lin- 
.'ohi^spoke,  and  the  government  of  the  Boss  was  taking  its 

VVhat  is  this  "people, "the  worship  of  which  has  succeeded 
to  the  worship  of  kings,  ;,nd  is  too  often  not  less  abject  or 
subversive  of  public  virtue?  On  the  lips  of  demagogues  it 
means  the  ''masses  "  without  the  "classes,"  that  is,  witl^utthe 
ducation  and  intelligence.  Tn  the  minds  of  the  Jacobins  it 
wa  a  deity :  they  called  it  the  divine  people.  In  the  minds 
.L  f /'  It  IS  a  vague  impersonation  of  the  community 

abstracted  from  individual  follies,  cupidities,  and  infiriuities 


120 


QUKSTIONS   OF   TMK    DAV. 


M 


Ml 


^otlm.- answers  to  this  fanry.  Lot  us  havo  ,lonn  with  fi^- 
I'l.M.ts  II.  wl.i.O,  wo  can  no  Iohkoi-  afford  t„  ind.il,,',..  I^rnoranco 
ii  imlhoii  iinics  miiltipli,.,!  do.'s  not  niako  knowledge,  nor  are 
politiossodiltoront  from  other  s.d.j..cts  that  without  knowl- 
edge, and  unch.r  tlio  inHuenee  of  passion,  political  (p.estions 
are  likely  to  he  settled  aright.  It  is  said  that  the  wisdom  of 
all  m.'n  is  greater  than  the  wisdom  of  any  one  man.  No 
doubt  It  IS  so  on  (luestions  which  all  men  understand. 

Vow,  even  if  they  desire  it,  would  deem  it  possible  to  re- 
store hereditary  monarehy  as  a  political  power.    Things  serve 
their   puri,oso   and   have   their   day.      Jlereditary    monarchy 
served  a  purpose  which  nothing  else  eouhl  serve;  and  appai- 
•M.tly  It  has  had  its  day.     The  N(nv  World,  the  leading  shoot 
and  the  index  of  Unxdviwy,  rejects  it.     In  Europe,  it  can  hardly 
be  said  to  live  otherwise  than  in  form  and  name  except  in 
KussiaamKJermany,  in  whicdi  last,  owing  to  the  circumstances 
of  federation,  the  part  played  therein  by  the  monarchy,  and 
the  military  character   of   the  Empire,  the  Emperor  retains 
power.      France,  formerly  its  grainiest  seat,  has  to  all  appear- 
ances  finally   abandoned   it.      In   Spain,    once   so    intensely 
loyal,  It  was  for  a  time  overthrown,  and  it  appears  now  to  be 
iH'garded  as  a  stop  gap  and  a  respite.      In  Great  Britain  it 
has  lost  all  power,  even  tlie  power  of  naming  its  own  house- 
hold, whi(th  was  denied  it  by  the  loyal  Peel,  though  it  has 
not  lost  hold  on  sentiment,  particularly  in  the  rural  districts 
Nobody  IS  surprised  or  shocked  by  seeing  in  the  midst  of  a 
political  crisis  daily  accounts  of  the  doings  of  royalty  at  some 
health  resort  or  pleasure  resort  on  the  Continent.     A  man  of 
eommanding   character   on   the   throne,  coming  forward  at  a 
juncture   like   the  present,  might  appeal  with  effect  to  the 
heart  of  a  nation.     But  there  is  no  use  in  looking  for  com- 
manding clumicter   in   kings  at  the  present   day.     Kings  in 
the  Middle  Ages  had  to  exert  themselves  in  order  to  keep 
their  crowns  upon  their  heads,  and  were  trained   more   or 
less  in  the  school  of  practical  duty,  in  spite  of  which  they 
often  succumbed  to  the  temptations  of  a  court.     But  a  modern 


'I'lK    POLITICAL   CUISIS    IN    KNCiLANI).  137 

king  is    mirscMl    i„  luxury  ,1,,,]   fluttory,  without   tl.n  anoiont 

nuToctives,  msponsil.ility  un,l  ■ 1  of  .x.-.-tioM.     He  i.  pro- 

tected  by  a,M,H.sihle  f.„,.  |,o.n  ...nta.t  with  nule  roulitios. 
Knowing'  that    u,  w.  1  not  be  aUowe,!  to  gov.n,  hut  ouly  to 
hold  levees  aud  lay  first  stones,  he  has  no  in.iueenu.nt  to  (it 
hnnseli  for  governnuM.t.      l'ul,lie  duty  ean  he  litth,  else  than 
->'•-■-    o  l-nn       you  have  no  right  to  expeet  of  hi.n  nu.re 
than  that  hn  shall  be  a  respeetahle  an.l  harmless  sybarite,  and 
you  have  not  niueh  n^ison  to  eoniphtin  if  he  is  a  George  IV 
Ask  a  nunister  of  any  nu„lern  eourt  how  oft.M.  he  has  found 
the  eourt  willing  to  sacrifiee  its  personal  eonvenienee  or  even 
Its  taneies  to  tlu,  public  service.     Think  how,  during  the  last 
two  cent.ines,  British  royalty  has  discharged  the  ^ery  easy 
gracous,  an<l    useful    duty  of  visiting   Ireland.     Not  one  in 
twenty  or  perhaps  in  a  hundred  of  us,  will  work  hard  or  prac- 
tise selt-denuil  uidess  he  is  (iompcdled. 

The  House  of  Lords  is  now  the  only  here.litMry  chamber 
hdt  m  Kurope,  though  in  some  others  there  lingers  an  here.li- 
tary  element.     It  is  the  last  leaf  on  that  tree,  and  it  has  hun-^ 
so  long  because  its  power  has  been  so  small  and  its  Orde," 
having  no  social  privileges  so  offensive  as  tuose  of  the  Frenci'. 
No hlesse,   has,   compared   with   the    French   Noblesse,   given 
ittlc   umbrage.      At   th-    juncture   destiny    has    heen    kind 
to  It      It  has   the   honour   of   standing  between  the   nation 
and  dismemberment,  and  will  receive  the  present  support  of 
wise  friends  of  union,  however  they  may  deal  with  it  in  the 
uture      Nor   does   freedom  s.^fer  more  .lisparagement  from 
the   interposition   of  an   hereditary   Peerage   tlian   from  the 
imcontro  led  action  of  a  Parliamentary  dictator.     The  despot 
of  the  Closure  has  received  a  check.     Law  in  its  resistance 
to  lawless  violence  has  found  for  the  moment  a  bulwark  in 
the  House  of  Lords.     It  is  pleasant,  too,  Avliile  the  House  of 
Commons  is  cringing  to  tlie  caucus  and  its  idol,  to  see  some- 
tiimg  like  independence  elsewhere.     Yet  few,  look^'n-  at  the 
course  which  things  have  been  taking  in  Europe,  can^elieve 
that  a  privileged  Order  is  destined  to  be  the  sheet  anchor  of 
the  btatc  in  the  future,  or  even  that  it  will  long  be  allowed  to 


I'JS 


(.M'KSriONS    dl'   'IIIK    \).\\ 


'    M 


<>Nisl.      What  lias  Immmi  ,s:ii.I  (H    licicWiiarv  luii-sliip   is  j.nir  of 
;m   iMMvdilary   arisl.ociary.       ||,  is   not,  an   (.l.jr.l,   „r   miiona,! 
Ii;iliv'l     il.  may  |m>  an   ol.jcci,  cf  liistorical   nraiitiidc..      ||,  was 
iin  (ir-anisin-   r,„r(>.    |M>rliai»s   |,li,<  sole  a,va,ila.ltl<«   Unw  of  Mic 
kind,  al   a   linn-  w  In-n.  Mk-iv   iM.in-  no  c.-nlial  adnuiiist.ra.iion 
Htron.n-   ,>n<)n,';li    To    hold    ,s..ci..|,y    |,(.;;,>t,li,<r,    Mic    only    ni()di>    of 
IMvs.Mvinj;- <.rd.-r  was   Ivrrirorial  d.'lc,t,'al.i<.n.      Norronld  any- 
llimi;-  else   well    lia\(>  cnrlMMJ    l,lii<    lawless    :u,7;ran(lis(Mn(>nl.  id' 
kin.y:s.      In   Miosc  days  Mk-   Haidn  was   local    niirr,  jnd.L;.-,  and 
fiil>i;iiii.      Mis  lir,>  was  one  ni'  cxrrli.Mi  and   of  |H>ril.      Ilisl.o- 
riims  .'v.'n  lliink  llial.  III.-  lives  of  Mi,,   nohilil.y  were  slKtriencd 
l)y   Mi(>ir  (n.nld.-s    as    w.dl    as    i.y   Mi.,    swoni.      j'.nl.    Mien,    is 
iioMiin.i;  now  !(.  pivvenl  an  li.'ivdilary  I'ei.r  rnnii  siidun.t,'  into 
llu"  syhariMsm.  to  wliidi  wralMi  and  assmvd  rank  l,,.ni|>l,  hint. 
Uron.uld.  ii|)  in  ;i  scliool  ,.1'  liononr  Mi..  |'....r,s  may  l)(>;   \m\.  Miey 
iuvalso  l)r.)n;Ald.  np  I.)  Iioina-v  wliieli   Mi,.y  I,a,v.*  iiol,  (.ani.-.l; 
an. I  iiohilily.  ins|...a.l  of  I... in-  iv-ard.-.l  as  :m  ohlij^^aiion,  is  apt', 
(<>  lu'  iv;;ard.Ml   as  an   .'N.-iiipt  i,.n    IVoni   duly.      Ani.ni,-;  men  of 
plcasuiv    wiMionl.    .Mnployiiient.    s.'an.ials   an-    siir..    1.)    occnr. 
Tlicy  liav..  nol  been  wvy  niiiiu.rons  in  Mi.>  .-as..  .)r  Mi,.   |5ri(,i,sli 
nrist.u'ra.'y.  bn(,  Mi..y  all  l.dl.      Tli,.  IV.,.rs  .-annot,  \n>  .,m)|,  ,.v..n 
toaliiMid  in  Mi.'ir.nvii    ll.)ns,..     'I'li,.  nniiilu.|- ..r  \Wvs  prcscnl. 
al,    important    d.diai.vs    soni,.t.iiii(.s    lianlly    .>,pials    thai   of   a, 
dinn.M-paily.      'I'li.>ir  wis,.  I,.ad.>rs  hav,'  always  l.,.,.i,   h.ctiirin.i,^ 
MitMii  on  this  snhjc't;   but  in  vain. 

Nor  can  il  b,.  ,l,.iii,'d  that  Mi. >  H.)us,M)r  I^onls.  b,.si.l(.s  rcpro- 
s,Mdin,!,-a  privih.^vd  Oni.M-  in  an  a-v  wli.-n  privil.>-v  is  con- 
<i.Mnn,>,l  ivpivsiMils  too  ,-N,'lusiv..|y  a.  spi-eial  inteivst,  Miai  ol" 
tlu^  propri,.|,M-s  o\-  Ian, I.  This  <lis,pialili,.s  it-  Innn  acting-  as 
an  impartial  .■ourl  of  l.\^-islative  r.. vision.  In  t'a.'l,  it  has  ii.n'cr 
pl:!.Y«Ml  Miat  part,  but  always  th.-  part  of  an  ,)roan  of  a.  privi- 
h\t;v.l  Order  and  ,d'  th..  land,-, I  int.nvst.  ,>pposin,i,'  ovory 
chani;v.  It  has  ,>ppos,.d  n,)t,  only  p,diti,'al  ehan-v,  as  in  the, 
case  of  its  blin.l  n>sistan,v  tolh,.  IJelorm  P.ill,  but  smdi  chaiiives 
as  th,>  llabtMs  Corpus  Aet.  the  huiuaue  improv.uuent  of  th(> 
»M-iminal  law.  the  eniaueipaf  ion  of  the  press.  |{.)swell,  as  we 
know,    relie.l    upon    it   to   bloek    tlu>    abolition    of   the   .slave 


'"''    '■<MJTI(AI,   CinsiS    IN    MN(;i,ANI>. 


Iii!» 


U.UU  I,,,,,.  ,»„„„„,.   i„    l,li„l<i„j.   U,„    r,,..l.  1,1,:,,,  its   ,.,,,,,,1 

" ■  '"■"■  "'•'"'""■V-    i-'^'-v,  i...w,.v,.,-  ,.,.„»,.,!,  „.rr,„.,,„  ,,„ 

""■'■""""'"■••"""'   I"-'- —™,  i,,:..  .,:,,i,|  ,,„„,,,  ,,, 

'■'"'  "iil"'ii:il  .■(,„li,|,.„,.,,  „„  1,1,.,,,  j,,,,„„„|  I'  '•^'"  '^^ 

*;: :  i::,frz,::;;:  '™:;r7,.;r;:'-,-r 

::  t™  ::,:::,S::;;::::;-s;t:-™;; 

.M^y  iiMUv,.,.  u,..,,,s,.,v,.«j.,M,  u,,,s,,  ,,r ,,,,..  ,vi,.,i,/L 
■'"■■" '"^y  ■■";:'  " ■'■■v.  wi.o.M  ,,!„,  no„„ ■  I,,,,.,,,,  i,,,,,,,". 

w.l.hpn.l,l,,„,.,,„„,,„|,i|,i„„  „;,,,,  ,,,,„|,„„„^,„„,,,^,«" 

;M-n.„- ,„:.,,,,,  ,.„„|,„„„|,,,,,.„.|,i,„|y,,,, „,^ I 

l>".s™,.™l  A,„„n,.„,  Hi, „,,,„,,, wl,l„.  A,. ,.,.,„, .  ., 

I ■";-;'■'■"■>' '"'""I- H<,.i,.  i„„i,„i.,.,t;, ':•;,.. 

""T"     ■'"• " '■''"  '•""'''-'•'"■  '-'■« ""  -  iiu,i  ,1,. 

;•;;;■"••--»  y  iw-i,ii,.  „« ;,,  i..,  n„.i,,  iu,f,  ,„  ,,„,  ,:;••:,;;:■,;■ 

nv.U,,y   ,,,l„,,|,„.,.. ,,,,„,  .,,,„„,|,.jj„„j„^^,|,,^^ 

'•" '■""'•■""'    "'"    '•'•"■•'^I.Mll,    h„  :.l,l„   |,„    |,„,„,   ,,,,„   II,,,,,,. 

'"•;'';'■■"•  "''""■'■•  i""-t-r.,,-„„„.,  „,,„,  r„,,,,„  ,„,,„„„.,„,  „,„:,' 

"•lu,.ii    i-oiiuun    lix,.,l    iviiil,.    ,-,.„t,s    f„ll       A    ,„ ?         '""I"", 


<1i:llij;o  l,ri 


I'; 


iWS  as  u.s„al,  |,ol,l,i„„.l  „,„,i  ,„„.i,.|  ,.,,,„  „,^ 

«'■"""""«,.  ,vl„„v  tl„.i,.  |,„,„„.y  „.i||  „„    I  ,,.,',", 

.;nu. or,. „„,,!.,., „,„„„„„„.  T,„. „„„„:■  :;'4;i'; 

all  ,t.s  g.,„d  and  ev.l,  „,ti,  all   its  l„,u,t,  „„.,  .i;;,-,,,,,,.;,,,,  ,, 


130 


QUESTIONS   OF   THE    DAY. 


! 


I!f 


if-  '  ^>\ 


passing  away;  wliile  social  and  political  hatred  is  working 
with  malignant  energy  to  precipitate  and  complete  its  ruin.  An 
impoverished  Peerage  with  no  great  body  of  landed  gentry 
behind  it,  will  scarcely  command  allegiance  or  form  a  firm 
barrier  against  the  rising  fury  of  the  democratic  tide. 

Is  the  House  of  Lords  to  be  ended  or  mended?    That  is  the 
great  practical  question  now  before  the  British  nation.     Revo- 
lutionists say,  end  the  House  of  Lords;  the  opponents  of  revo- 
lution say,  mend  it,  and  let  it  save   the  country  from  the 
uncontrolled   sway   of  a   faction-stricken   and    caucus-ridden 
House  of  Commons  which  lias  lost  the  character  of  a  delibera- 
tive assembly  or  national  council  and  become  the  mere  cock-pit 
of  party,  unable  even  to  preserve  order  and  decency  in  its 
debates.      Tlie  House   of   Commons,   Radicals   assert,    repre- 
sents, or,  when  we  have  swept  away  the  last  safeguards,  will 
represent,  tlie  will  of  the  people.     It  represents  the  will  of  the 
people  distilled  through  the  sinister  alembic  of  the  caucus  and 
sophisticated  by  the  arts  of  Mr.  Schn  ulliorst  and  his  compeers. 
We  do  not  want  to   be  governed  by  anybody's  will,  but  by 
the  reason  of  the  community,  wliich  is  far  enougli  from  being 
represented  by  the  existing  House  of  Commons. 

Mended,    and   effectively   mended,    if   revolution   is   to   be 
averred,  the  House  of  Lords  must  be.      It  must  be  mended  so 
as  to  make  it  once  more  what,  by  the  tlieory  of  the  constitu- 
tion It  IS,  a  co-ordinate  branch  of  the  legislature,  a  real  clieck 
on  tlie  imprudence  and  violence  of  the  popular  House,  and  a 
worthy  rallying-point  for  tlie  rational  conservatism   of   the 
nation.     The  proposal  to  reduce  its  powers  to  a  suspensive 
veto  IS  a  mockery.     The  suspensive  veto  would  soon  become  a 
mere  form  and  would  have  no  otlier  effect  than  that  of  some- 
what impairing  the  sense  of  responsibility  in  tlie  lower  House. 
What  man  of  mark  would  care  to  sit  in  a  House  which  had  no 
other  power?     A  nominative  Senate  is  condemned  by  experi- 
ence, notably  by  the  experience  of  Canada,  where  the  institu- 
tion IS  an  unquestionable  faihu-e  and  the  nominations  are  little 
better  than  an  addition  to  the  corruption  fund  in  the  hands 


THE   POLITICAL   CRISIS  IN  ENGLAxND.  jgi 

.      Of  a  party  government.    An  infusion  of  life  Peerage  is  a  feeble 

to  sta.e  off  a  more  drastic  reform.     The  life  element  would 
scarcely  fuse  with  the  hereditary  element,  and  as  often  as  the 
1  fe  element  was  outvoted,  there  would  be  a  clamour  for  t  e 
abolmon  of  hereditism,  the  principle  of  which  would  lav   be  n 
morally  condenjned  by  the  change.     In  these  times  it  seems  to 
be  only  on  an  elective  basis  that  an  institution  can  firmly  rst 
G    at  Lritain  has  notlung  corresponding  to  the  States  of  the 
American  Union,  but  the  County  Councils  are  said  so  far  to 
have  .worked  well  and  would  furnish  a  fair  elective   blsi 
The    mportance  which  the  power  of  election  to  the  second 
chamber  would  give  them  might  in  some  degree  stay  the  flig^^ 
of  the  squire,  encourage  him  to  hold  his  own  as  a  County 
Councillor,  and  thus  break  the  fall  of  the  manorial  system 

number  of  members  appointed  as  having  held  high  offices  or 

the  State      Kound  such  a  body  rational  conservatism  mh^ht 
surely  rally.  ^  ^ 

AVhen  the  plan  for  a  reorganised  second  chamber  has  been 
ormed,    he  difficulty  will  remain  of  carrying  it  through  the 
House  of  Commons,  where  the  revolutionists  will  wreck  it  if 
tliey  can.     Next  to  ending  tlie  second  chamber  altogether  thev 
naturally  prefer  the  retention  of  the  present  Housx,  which  is 
practically  an  ostracism  of  rank  and  wealth.     The  flank  of 
their  opposition  might  be  turned  if  the  Lords  chose  to  reform 
themselves  by  a  resolution  delegating  active  powers  to  a  select 
body  of  their  own  number,  as  by  a  resolution  they  divested 
themselves  of  the  obnoxious  privilege  of  voting  by  n.xy,  and 
as  the  lay  members  renounced  in  tlu"  crucial  case  of  O'Connell 
without  formal  resolution,  their  privilege  of  voting  on  legal 
appeals.      This,  however,  implies  an  amount  of  self-sacrifice 
on  the  part  of  the  majority  of  the  Order  which  it  would  be 
sanguine  to  expect. 

It  is  to  be  observed,  on  the  other  hand,  that  the  revolution- 
ists cannot,  otherwise  than  by  force,  abolish  the  House  of 


132 


QUESTIONS  OF   THE   DAY. 


/' 


mi 


Lords  or  reduce  its  powers  without  its  own  consent.  To 
swamp  it  by  the  creation  of  four  or  live  Imndred  Peers  would 
be  morally  an  act  not  of  legislation  but  of  civil  war.  Actual 
civil  war  would  then  impend.  An  attempt  of  the  House  of 
Commons  to  upset  the  constitution  and  engross  the  whole 
power  of  the  State  would  be  as  much  an  usurpation  as  the 
attempt  of  James  II. ;  and  in  the  last  resort  might  be  lawfully 
resisted  in  the  same  way. 

The  retention  of  the  bi-cameral  system  is  taken  for  granted. 
The  existence  of  that  system  is  an  act  ident  of  British  history, 
l)robably  arising  out  of  the  division  of  the  Barons  into  the 
greater,  wlio  took  their  seats  in  the  Great  Council,  and  the 
lesser  liarons,  who  did  not,  and  Avho  formed  a  landed  gentry 
which  cast  in  its  lot  with  the  Commons.    Chance,  however, 
often  chooses  well.    The  Aveakest  point  of  the  bi-cameral  system 
is  that,  to  form  the  Senate,  it  is  necessary  to  take  the  experi- 
ence and  tlie  mature  wisdom  out  of  the  popular  House,  which 
needs  their  control,  and  to  put  them  into  a  House  by  them- 
selves where  they  are  in  danger  of  being  discredited  as  the 
experience  and  wisdom  of  greybeards  who  are  behind  the  age, 
and  estranged  from  the  feelings  and  wishes  of  the  people; 
though  tlie  liability  to  estrangement  would  not  be  great  in  the 
case  of  a  second  chamber  elected    by  the    County  Councils. 
Again  there  is  danger  of  dead-lock.     In  the  United  States, 
where  the  Senate   is   really  co-ordinate  Avith   the   House   of 
Eepresentatives,  as  often  as  the  majorities  of  the  two  Houses 
belong  to  different  parties,  dead-lock  ensues,  and  legislation 
on  important  matters  is  in  abeyance.     There  is  also  danger  of 
diminishing  tlie  sense  of  responsibility  in  the  loAver  House, 
members  of  which  Avill  give  a  popular  vote  for  a  measure  which 
they  disapiirove,  trusting  that  the  measure  will  be  thrown  out 
by  the  Senate.     This  has  notoriously  ha])pened  in  the  United 
States,  and  is  happening  now  in  England,  where  it  is  known 
that  not  a  few  of  those  v/ho  voted  for  Mr.  Gladstone's  Home 
Rule  Bill  condemned  it  in  private,  and  would  scarcely  have 
been  able  to  stifle  conscience  had  they  not  felt  sure  that  the 
measui-e   would  be  thrown  out  by  the  House  of   Lords.     It 


',M 


111 

li  1 


tl 


le 


',M 


THE   POLITICAL  CRISIS   IN  ENGLAND. 


138 


would  be  easy,  without  a  soeuud  clKunber,  to  provide  safeguards 
against  legislative  precipitancy  by  regulating  the  procedure, 
or  by  giving  a  suspensive  veto  to  a  certain  proportion  of  the 
House,  liut  the  bi-cameral  system  is  in  possession.  It  is  in 
possession  not  only  of  all  the  constitutional  laws  and  forms, 
and  of  the  Palace  at  Westminster,  but  of  the  national  mind; 
and  Lincoln's  advice  not  to  change  horses  when  crossing'-  the 
stream  lias  double  force  when  the  stream  is  so  heady.  All 
objections  ai'e  far  outweighed  by  tlie  pressing  necessity  of 
providing  a  sumcient  safeguard  against  legislative  violence  and 
revolution. 

It  is  not  the  House  of  Lords  only  that  needs  to  be  mended. 
Changes  are  not  less  needed  to  restore  the  independence  and 
dignity  of  the  House  of  Commons,  to  redeem  it  from  tlie  con- 
dition of  a  voting  machine  worked  by  the  caucus,  to  prevent  it 
from  becoming,  as  violent  men  try  to  nuxke  it,  a  mere  organ 
of  revolution,  and  give  it  once  more  the  character  of  a  coun- 
cil of  the  nation.     The  only  guarantee  for  independence,  sav- 
ing with  heroic  souls,  is  a  certain  security  of  tenure.     Let  each 
member  hold  for  the  term  of  se^    .  j,ears  certain,  or  whatever 
the  term  is  to  be,  from  the  day  of  his  election,  unless  he  takes 
office  under  the  Crown;  in  which  case,  perhaps,  a  sentiment 
rooted,  though  rather  obsolete,  would  still  require  him  to  go 
to  his  constituents  for  re-election.      It  would  be  found  that 
the   House,    to  Avhich   many   men   are   elected   late   in   life, 
changed  fully  as  fast  as   national   opinion,  especially  if  the 
killing  length  of  the  sessions  and  the  killing  lateness  of  the 
hours  are  maintained.     But  it  would  always  have  in  it  a  cer- 
tain number  of  men  tolerably  free  to  vote  according  to  their 
convictions.     Its  existence  would   be   continuous,  and   there 
would  not  be,  as  there  now  is,  an  anomalous  interval  between 
dissolution   and  re-election,  when,  the  supreme  power  being 
now  vested  in  Parliament,  that  power  is  for  a  time  in  abey''- 
ance. 

Such  a  cliangp  would  involve  the  abandonment  of  the  pre- 
rogative, vested  nominally  in  the  Crown,  really  in  the  part^^ 
leader,  of  penal  dissolution.     This  is  the  relic  of  a  time  when 


i:t4 


QUMHTKtNS   OK    I'lIK    DAV. 


M 

j 

■ 

,% 

y 

J.i 

Kovcniniciit  wiiH   milly   in   tho   Crown   and    ParliauKMit    was 
calUnl  to  advise  the  (!r()\vn  and  }j;rant,  taxes.      It  l)ec;uu((  irra- 
tional  when    sn|.reine  power  vested  in    I'arlianmnt.     Still  it 
used  to  he  (^xennsed   witii  sonu!   nieasnnt  and   in  aeeordance 
witli  some  principle    lodged  in  the  hreasts  ol'    hcM-editary  or 
trained  statesmen.      It  is  now  nsed  as  a  c^ird  in  the  hands  ol" 
a  leaih'r  of  I'aetioii,  wlu>  dissolves   Parlianufnt  to  hrinj-' on  an 
election,  when  his  loeal  wire-pullers  tell  hini  that  the  chances 
are  in  his  la,vour.     Thus  the  t(-iuire  ol"  a  nuunber  ol'  I'arlia- 
uient  is  not  lor  a,  legal  term,  but  during  the  pleasure  of  the 
leader  of  a  dominant  Ijuition,  and  he  votes  always  un(h'r  piu-il 
ol"  dissolution  as  w(dl  as  under  the  dictation  of  the  caucus. 
'I'he  abuse  of  this  jtrerogative  in  tiu;  colonies,  where  politicians 
are  under    no    restraint  by  unwritten  principle  or  tradition, 
shows  wiiat  may  be  expected  in  lOnghind.     On  the  last  occa- 
sion in  Canada,  tin;  Dominion  TarlianuMd,  was  dissolved  on  a 
false  pretext  which  wa,s  exposed  upon  the  spot,  simply  because 
the  party  leader  thought  that  the  wind  at  tha,t  uunueut  was  in 
his  favour.      A  middle  course  would  be  to  leave  the  preroga- 
tive of  dissolution,  but  provide  that  it  shall  be  exercised  only 
on  the  advice  of  tlu>   Privy  (\)uncil,  or  on  that  of  a  Senate. 
There   would   be  an   (>nd   also  of   geiu'ral   elections.     These, 
again,  a,re  a.  survival,  and  in  surviving  have  totally  chantred 
their  nature.      They  were  originally  a  summons  to  the  people 
to  send  up  represt'ntativ(\s  of  tluur  counties  and  boroughs  to 
inform  the  Crown  about  local  needs,  and  vote  the  subsidies. 
Each  of  them  is  now  a.n  eu(U'uums  faction  tight,  the  prizes  of 
which  arc  the  otliccs  of  State  and  the  control  of  the  national 
jiolicy.      Kach  of  them  is  a.  civil  war  witlund,  arms,  and  excites 
the  sauu'  anti-social  and  anti-national   passions  which  civil 
WMr  itself  t>xcites,  sometimes  Avith  rt>sults  hardly  less  grave. 
A  false  and  duigcrous    stimulus  is  given   to  innovation,   be- 
cause eav  h  of  Mie  parties,  especially  the  party  of  movenu^nt, 
has  to  allure  support  by  promises,  which  in  the  excitenu>nt  of 
the  game  bcconu'  rcckl(>ss.  as  well  as  by  denunciation  of  its 
oppoiuMit.     The  Newcastle  progranuuc.  drawn  up  to  gain  votes, 
raises    issues   which   together  would  be  enough   to   bring   on 


TilK    I'OLITICAL  (MUSIS    IN    KN(JLANI). 


136 


revolution.  I.(,gish,,tion  itself  is  iu  fact  lust  b.,(.oinin{r ,,  mode 
ol  caiivassiiig  lor  tlu!  next  goneral  (flection.  Tlie  public 
time  IS  wasted  by  the  introduction  oi'  measures  which,  it  is 
known,  cannot  pass,  lui'  the  sake  of  raising  a  storm  on  which 
tlu,  party  may  ride  to  power  at  the  polls,  in  America,  civil 
war  (M.sued  upon  a  presidential  election,  which  .^orresi^onds 
|;0  ;i  gxM.eral  election  in  England.  No  country  can  b(,ar 
iorever  these  convulsions,  which  grow  more  violent  as  the 
sullrage  is  extended,  and  more  Irequent  as  the  exercuse  of 
the  prerogative  of  dissolution  becomes  more  unrestrained 

The  plebiscite,  where  it  can  be  used,  as  it  well  might  be  in 
the  .-ase  of  any  anumdment  to  the  constitution,  has  the  im- 
mense advantage  of  submitting  a  single  and  (h^liuite  question 
to  the  vot.-  (dear  of  all  alien  issues,  and  as  cdear  as  possible 
of  i.ersoiuLl  and  local  ii.ttuenc...  It  might  be  that  the  peoide 
would  decide  in  favour  of  Avoman  suffrage;  but  they  could  not 
be  worric,  or  coaxed  into  voting  for  it  as  individual  members 
«>l  a  legislature  are;  nor  would  they,  like  party  leaders,  suc- 
cumb to  the  Tear  of  offending  and  estranging  a  coming  vote. 

A  parliament  whiidi  is  sovereign,  having  unlimited  power 
of  legislation  on  all  subjects,  has  over  a  parliament  bound  by 
a  written   constitution,  like  the  American  Congress,  the  ad- 
vantage of  a  greater  freedom  of  adaptation  and  national  devel- 
opment; though  it  would  not  be  nec^essary  to  c^opythe  extreme 
rigidity  of  American  safeguards.     But  the  present  course  of 
events  in   EngLmd   seems  to  indittate  that  in   a  democratic 
ro])ul)lic  a,  written  constitution  may  be  indisi)ensable.     With- 
out it  there  may  be  a  peri)etual  danger  of  a  revolutionary  ex- 
ercise of  the  legislative  i)ow(>r  by  any  ei)liemeral  faction  in  the 
moment  of   its  ascendancy.     For  something  of  the  kind  the 
radical  "bugle"'  is  now  being  sounded,  and  if  this  prospect  is 
l)leasaut  for  political  sportsmen,   every  man   of  sense   must 
know  what  is  in  stor(^  for  the  nation. 

To  reascend  the  slojx'  of  democratic  concession  under  the 
elective  system,  with  the  ].a,rties  bidding  against  each  other 
lor  votes,  is  not  less  dillicult  than  the  descent  is  easy.  To 
very   extended   male   suffrage^  you    have   already   come.     To 


\m 


Qi:i:sTK)Ns  OF  Till-;  da  v. 


'li 


univm-sal   inul.^  s..nV;.,-o,    with    ono   .nan,  „mo    vote,  you   are 
visibly  ,.(,M.l^,^^     T(.  u.iiv,.rsal  Hulh-.i^o,  mal.>  an,!  IV.ualo,  you 
aro  very  lik.ly  to  cumo.     Witl.  univ.Tsal  sulFniKo,  male  aucl 
••■n.alc,  aiMl  uiil.out  m.  wrilt,.-,,  .■onsl,it,uti..n,  or  any  du,ck  what- 
I'v.M-  except  til,.  "  thro.,,.,"  „,„,.,  th,.  ,>x,M-,Mse  of  sove.-,'!-,.  power 
I'y  the  "will"  or  sn.h  a  -p,.oj,h.,"  yon  .„ay  h.ok  loVwanl  to 
n.t..rest.nu-  t„,„.s.      |„  th,.  ..„|,  p,Hiaps,  hy  a  ..(...vnlsiv.  oifort 
ot  a()(n,.ty  to  ...sci.p,^  I'.-o.u  ,'onrnsio.,,  tho  t.-imchi.on  niay  vovort 
t..  the  rn,t,.,^tor's  ha,..,l.      Hut  i.,  th,.  .n,.a..ti...e  what  niay  hap- 
|>«'n  to  a  hii,H.Iy  ,.onim,.,-(.i;il  njition,  most  s.-nsitivdy  o.-traniscd, 
to  wh.,U,  a  n.,..mM.t  of  ,.o..r„sion  ,„,.;,,.,«  whlespivad  .list.-ess'J 
It  IS  su.vly  i.-i'a,tional  t,)  ass,..-t  th:.tany  ...an  has  a  .-ight  to  a 
vot,>,  that   IS,  to  a,  sharo  ol'    political   pow,..-,  wlu-thei-  he   is 
oapahl,.  o.-  wh,.th,..-  h,.  is  inoapahh,  of  nsi..jr  it  lor  the  general 
go,),l  ami  h.s  ow...      It  has  lu.e.,  t.-nly  sai.l  that  if  such  a  right 
••x.sts,  .t  must  ..x.st  i.,  ..ve.y  hu...a..  l.,ung,  in  the  Hotte.itot  as 
well  MS  ...  the  eivilise,l  n.an.     To  Hx  a  stamlard  of  age  is  to  Hx 
a  sta,..,l:.,r,l  ,.f  .it.iess,  a.i.I  to  fix  a  sta..,hu',l  of  lit.iess  is  to  bar 
igi.ora.,,',.  a,n,l  invsponsihility  as  w,.ll  as  .,o..ag,'.     The  ri-ht 
which  ,.v,..y   o.ip   has   is  that  of  .iiuiliiyi.ig  hi.nself  for  the 
exercise  of  politi,'al  power,  if  he  <.au.     A.uliences  of  workin- 
men,  how.>v,.r  ,l..mocratie,  see.ued  ..ot  to  .vse.it  the  assertio'n 
that  pol.tical   power  was  a,  trust,  m,..,1   that  a  mn.i  ought  to 
qua  lily   lm.,s,.ll   aiitl  give  some  guanuitee  for  its  right  exer- 
^'ise      A   pn.perty  or  .•esid,...ce   <iui,,lilication  as  assurance  of 
a  stak,.  ...  the  .-ountry  may  be  obsolet,.,  or  no  longer  feasible 
thongh    th,..v   is  smvly  still  some  sense   in  tluraxiom   that 
represe.itation  ami    taxation   should   go   together,  while    the 
experi,...ce  ,)f    America.!  a,..d  of  (^.lonial  democracy  appears 
to  show  that  unless  ivpreseutation  and  taxation  do  go  together 
expenditu.v  is  likely  to  be  fr,v.      I5ut  p.-operty  .lualihcation  as 
a  t,>st  oi   i.ulust.y,  frugality.  a..d  responsibility  can  never  be 
ol.sol,>te  till  ,'o.n.iiunis.u  .vigns  ami  ]u-operty  is  no  more.     Still 
K'ss  can  it  be  said  by  any  ,m,.  but  a,  dacobi.i  that  an  educa- 
tu.nal  qualitication  is  obs,.l..te,  or  that  while  on  every  subject 
Imt  polities,  iguoran,-..  is   fatal,  a,  ma.,  is  lit  to  decide  by  his 
vote  the  .piestion  of  Ho.uo  Huh"  who  hardly  knows  on  which 


nil.;   I'OLITK.'AL  CRISIS   IN    i:n(jlani>. 


i;{7 


.sidn  of  Kn^ri;„„i  i,,.i,i,„i  li,,^  1,.  i|.  i^  ^,jj,  jjj^^  ^^^  (Mluoatc!  our 
iiuislcis,  it,  is  ill.' duty  of  our  musters  to  gvi  tluMnsidves  odu- 
cutecl,  Miul  to  give  proof  thiit  tlu^y  liiiv(^  luul  sdioolii.g  sufUoicMit 
to  be  napable  of  understanding  at  least  what  tlio  politic^al  quos- 
tions  mean.  IsJor  is  there  any  reason,  excif^pt  the  tyrannical 
(^xig..n(ues  or  party,  why  thi;  sulTragc.  siiouhl  be  thrust  hy  a 
sell -acting  system  of  registration  ui)()n  the  niiin  who  does  not 
care  enough  for  it  or  for  public  (pu-stions  to  take  tlie  trouble 
oi  putting  himself  upon  the  Register.  An  edu.rational  (,uali- 
fH;;ition,  which  there  an;  simph;  methods  of  ascertaining,  and 
personal  ai)i)lication  for  the  vote  as  a  guarantius  lor  a  spark  of 
CIVIC  duty  :,,(,  surely  no  more  than  Lhe  commonwealth  has  a 
right  to  reipiire. 

Al'ter    all,    what    is    a    vot.'?     That    is   a  (pu'stion    which 
so(ualisti(!  radiciilism,  if  it  goes  to  tlu^  l.-ngth  of  disnu-mber- 
mmd.   and    rapine,   may    force    peoph,   to   ask   theinscdves    in 
cariKfst.      Is  the  right  of  majorities  divine?     Are  people  bound 
in  conscience  to  allow  themselves  to   bc'  voted  to  perdition 
when  the  real  force  is  on  their  side  and  they  might  save  tlumi- 
.selvos,  if  they  chose,  by  the  strong  hand?     Nobody  i.retends 
to  believe;  that  a  majority  is   infallible,  or  even  that  it  is  a 
very  .strong  guarantee  Tor  wisdom,  truth,  and  justice.      If  any 
one  did,  the  history  of  opinion  would  rise   ui)   in  judgment 
against  him.     l\y  agreeing  to  count  heads,  men  avoided" deci- 
sion by  force,  the  only  arbitrator  in  that  primitive  state  of 
things  of  which  the  Polish  libemm  veto  was  a  ndic.     Connting 
heads  was   not  weighing  brains;    still   it  was  an   invaluable 
invention,  and  communities  owe  it,  if  not  invariable  wisdom, 
unbroken    peace,    freedom    at    least    from    physical   violence. 
Decision  by  ecmnt  of  heads   is  an   institution  as  worthy  of 
profound  respect,  as  sacu-ed,  if  you  will,  as  utility  can  make  it. 
But  utility  cannot  give  a  title  higlu-r  than  itself,  and  if  in  nine 
hundred  and  ninety-nine  cases  out  of  a  thousand  it  is  right  for 
those  who  tliink  they  have  the  real  force  upon  their  i'ide  to 
yield  for  the  sake  of  peace  and  order  to  the  more  numerous 
yet  weaker  party,  in  the  thousandtli  case  it  may  not  be  right. 
A  vote  is,   in  a  great  number  of   cases,   an   avtiticial   power 


m 


188 


III 


f) 


quk.stkjns  of  the  day. 


p.'ovo„t  the  cruel  i„.,„,,.,.ee  „,  e,a»»  haUv.   ;::.':" 

lioima  to  l„l.l  their  anas  ,„  tan,.,  siibiaissi,,,,  when  the  tvrn  ^ 
of  a  ,h..s,,„t   i„.cu,„e.s    insulferahle.      There  a        ,     r,  .  ^      ^ 

,^;  uat.„„.,,  though  r„.,  „„t  „,.  w,,i,„  ^, ^;> ;  ';^-t  ::; 

1  .ore  are  do.uestie  situations,  far  fen-er  still,  out"  „We       , 
M  rabeau  saw,  the  only  exit  is  civil  war,  or  the  dis.Z  of'! 

oTzr  A '° '''™;"-"  ™''  ■■^^""■■- "-  -«■-  ti-  -.  L; 

;\"'"S-     A  majority,  conscious  that  its  power  is  ■irtiHei,! 
and  that  the  real  strength  is  on  the  othe    s  J  ,  wi        i.o'; 
awaysdechne  the  conHictand  refrain  fron.  further  ggrc^^^^^.^^^^^^ 

flu.  genuine  *Le  a.?;ii:iv:,:!;:rr  "^"''^'  •""  ^^ 


f.l 


THE  EMPIRE. 


» 


'P 


;';""•'  ""■'""'  '•'•'.pi.-o  stiPH  in  f,l„.  Mriiisl,  l.oart  ,•,,  ,s,.nti,M.nt  oi 
IM'ul..  win..  .  Mn,  wril...  M.nn.uKl.ly  sLurs.  hut  whi,.|,  unh-ss  it 

-.-..•  o    a  lull.      Wl...n|,h..IIo..s,.ur('o,u.uunsl.us,as,s'da 
..I    for  tlH.  s..v,.n,n,M.  ..f  ,1.,.   |'.,.itisl.  Ishuuls  In.ni  <.;u,l,  other, 

tcHliscuss  th.  u.lv:.ntMK..s  ...n.l  ,li,sa.lvu„taK,.s  of  rmiot.,  <l,.p,.n.l- 

.•n..u.s  run  lunlly  h.,  .|..,.,nr.l  .,„  insult  to  tlu-  nutional  honour. 
lMv..n,;tn.l,.|  us  a,  sorvi..  in  n.M,kin«  us  think  what  we  nu.tnt 

by      h.niur...         Ih,.  vaKU..  use  ot  the  UMn.e  is  pnretieally  (h'lu- 
H.ve  an.l  perilous.      lintisI.JIn.pjre  in  In.lia  i«  En.pire  in  the 
true  sense  of   th,.   term,  since  Hiudostuu   is   Koverned   with 
.liupeiiulsvvay.    So,  in  their  way,  arc,  the  military  .lepen-h-neies 
sneh  :.   INIalt.,  a,ul  (;il,ralt;,r.      Hutthe  sell>verne,l  eolouies 
="v  not  L.np.reat  all.     The  reasons   For   r.-tainint;  the  three 
cdass(>H  ol  poss,.ssions  are  totally  .lillerent,  as  are  tl.e  rules  for 
dcahnj;  w.th  thenu     The  West  India,  Islands,  again,  a,  set  of 
oxtmet  shi,v,>  plantations,  are  a  ...se  l,y  thenis.dves.      No  pl-u. 
or  systematic  poliey  has  Koverne.l  this  motl(>y  aeeumulation  '(.f 
])()ssessions.    England  has  had  no  Will  of  I'.ter  tin,  (ireat     The 
only  pervading  ageney,  besides  the  aggressive  energy  of  a  hicdi- 

strung  ra.H-.  fruitlul  c.r splendid  adventuivrs,  has  been  the  imrri- 
nne  superiority  wiiieh  enabled  and  indue.-d  England,  while  she 
had  not  the  means  of  putting  a  great  land  loire  on  European  bat- 
tle-helds,  to  extend  her  acquisitions  by  s.>a,  at  the  <>xponse  of 
less  maritime  rivals.  Cases  essentially  difler.Mit,  eonunon  sense 
vciuires  to  be  differently  treated,  and  as  to  all  eases,  common 
sense  says  that  change  of  circumstance  ought  to  be  taken  into 
account  T^ut  m  approaching  the  .piestion  of  Empire  from  a 
rational  point  of  view,  and  essaying  to  test  the  value  of  its 

HI 


'i1 


142 


QUESTIONS   OF  THE   DAY. 


Ik  I 
hi') 

■-'  i  " 


several  elements,  we  are  met  at  once  by  the  cry  of  "prestige." 
Give  up  anything,  we  are  told,  and  you  ruin  the  prestige  of 
tliat  Empire  on  which  the  sun  never  sets.     What  is  prestige? 
Etymologically,  a  conjuring  trick.     Actually,  a  sham  force. 
Is  it  possilde  that  there  can  be  anytliing  really  valuable  in  a 
sham?     Will  not  your  enemy  see  througii  it  as  well  as  your- 
self?    Wooden  guns  may  be  of  use  till  it  is  found  out  that 
they  are  wooden,  after  which  they  are  hardly  worth  defending, 
dependencies  widely  scattered  and  whicli  you  have  no  adequate 
force  to  guard   must   be   military  weakness,  of  which  your 
enemy  cannot  fail  to  be  aware.^     Your  enemy,  in  fact,  is  aware 
of  it,  and  a(!ts  in  his  dealings  with  you  upon  the  knowledge 
that  you  are  vulnerable  in  all  parts  of  the  globe.     England 
deems  herself  the  happy  nation  that  has  no  frontier.     She  has 
a  frontier  in  India  of  vast  extent,  menaced,  as  is  supposed,  by 
the  greatest  military  power  in  the  world,  to  say  nothing  of  the 
neighbourhood,  on  the  other  side,  of  China,  which  may  some 
day  become  military.     Tn  Canada  she  has  a  frontier  of  three 
thousand  miles  perfectly  open  to  the  attack  of  a  nation  of 
sixty-five  millions,  which  the  other  day  had  a  million  of  men 
in  arms,  and  can  at  any  moment  throw  an  irresistible  force 
across   the   line.     Tlie  primacy  of   tlie   sea  remains  to  her. 
Supremacy  is  no  longer  hers,  as  it  was  at  the  time  when  the 
navies  of  France  and  Spain  had  fallen  into  decrepitude  and 
that  of  Russia  was  but  just  born;  or  again,  when  Duncan  had 
crushed  the  navy  of   Holland   at   Camperdown,   and  Nelson 
had  crushed  the  navies  of  France  and  Spain  at  Trafalgar. 
Steam,  too,  has  changed  the  aspect  of  naval  affairs.     Hoclie 
would  noAV  be  sure  of  his  landing  in  Bantry  Bay.     Xor,  till 
the  fearful  experiment  of  a  naval  war  with  ironclads  has  been 
tried,  can  we  tell  how  far  the  pre-eminence  of  the  Britisli 
sailor  will  be  affected  by  the  change  from  the  Victorrj  to  the 
turret   and   the   ram.     A   Frenchman,   thougli   inferior   to   a 
Briton  in  close   action  or  in  boarding,   may  behind  his  iron 
Avail  show  as  much  intelligence  in  handling  a  machine. 

There  is  surely  no  disparagement  in  saying  that  England's 
real  strength  was  always  in  herself.     It  was  in  her  race  of 


in  a 


THE  EMPIRK.  j.. 

men,  her  position,  good  for  commerce  with  both  hemispheres 
her  coal  and  „-on,  the  spirit  of  her  tree  institntions.    Opponent^ 

\mt  ,s  ,t  that  makes  British  policy  insular?    Cromwell's 

olicy  was  not  insnlar,  nor  was  that  of  the  statesmen  o   EHza- 

be  h.     What  compelled  England  to  stand  aloof,  lendin-  no 

W in t  wo'r°"  ''  T";''  "^'^  ^''  ^'™S8""S  fo'  in..epende;ce 

should  set  on  Germany  and  overturn  the  balance  of  power  in 

m  vievv.'    What  but  those  dispersed  possessions  which  she 
knows  herself  to  be  unable  to  defend,   'when  the  a.Wate  of  i 
prudence  is  flouted  as  a  "little  Englander"  his  answe   I  that 

Thirty  years  ago  the  question  arose  of  ceding  the  Ionian 

sions.   ^lieir  people,  though  well  treated,  were  fractious  and 

were  always  giving  trouble.     Not  only  did   they  brW  no 

rength,  but  in  case  of  war  with  a  Mediterranean  Pole" 

wnich  could  not  have  been  spared  must  have  been  shut  un  in 
them  and  would  probably  have  been  lost.     Yet  th    cry  was 
raised  a    once  that  cession  would  be  a  betrayal  of  weaknr 
and  would  be  fetal  to  imperial  prestige.     Me  Islands  were 
ceded,  nevertheless,  and  by  Lord  Palmerston,  the  Ministerof 
aggrandisement  whose  ambition  it  was  to  make  the  name  o 
tnghshman  as  formidable  as  that  of  Roman  had  been  rf  old 
Did  Great  Bnta.n  thereby  lose  a  particle  of  real  strength  or  of 
.=:enuine  reputation?    Did  she  not  rid  herself  of  weakne  s  lid 
gain  reputation  for  wisdom?    Of  the  present  genet^ioi    ;  ? 
haps  few  are  conscious  that  England  was  ever  posses.,ed  of  t  e 
Wn  Islands,  any  more  than  they  know  thlt  the  lOng 
England  was  once  King  of  Corsica,  and  for  good  reason 
resigned  that  Crown.  *         leasons 

Spanish  historians  begin  the  reign  of  Philip  II,  with  the 
resounding  roll  of  the  kingdoms,  provinces,  colonies,  IJid  to- 


A 


^';i 


144 


(il'KSTlONS   OK   'niK    i).\V 


II 


/! 


tmsscs  of  w1.i(-l,  hv.  w.tH  lord  in  ;ill  piirts  of  tho  gloh,.      "He 
l")ss,>ss..,|    in    Kun.)...   1,1,..   kin-.l„Mis  of  Custil..,   Aragon,  and 
N;iv;,,nv,  i,|„.,s.-  <.r  Naples  an.l  Sicily,  Milan,  Sa,nUnia,   lions- 
sillon,  1,1...  i;al..a,ii,^  Islands,  the   Low  Countri.'s,  a,n,l   Krand.o 
<'<Mat,.^  on  1,1.,.  w,.sl,,.rn  coa.sl,  of  Alrira,  li...  I„.l.|  l,!,,.  (Ja,na.ri(.s 
<';i|..>  Vcrd,  Oran,  a,nd  Tunis;  in  Asia  lie  lu-ld  t,I„^  IMiilippinrs 
JUKI  a  |)a,rl,  of  tho  Mojuwas;   in  the  New  World  ho  held  the 
"um.'ns..  kinn-.h.n.s  of  Mexico,  Vrvu,  and  (!hili,  and  the  pro- 
vinces eon.inered  in  the  last  years  orciiarh.s  V.,  hesides  (Vaha 
Ilispaniola,  a,nd  otlu'r  islands  and  poss,.ssions.      His  niarria-o 
with  the  Queen  of  Knuland  ha.l  place.l  in  his  hands  the  power 
and  resourc..s  of  that  kin-doui.     S,>  that  it  ini-ht  well  h,.  said 
that  the  sun  lu.ver  s.'t  in  the  dominions  of  the  King  of  Spain, 
and  tha.t  a,t  the  least  inovomont  of  that  nation  th<^  whole  world 
tivnil)!,.,!."     Wo  now  know  wha,t  relation  all  these  possessions 
and  titles  Lore  to  real  stn.ngth  a,nd  to  the  sources  of  a  ge.uiine 
prosj)erit,v.      How  dees  the  refusal  to  examine  ra,tionally  the 
Jniiun-ial   policy   of   (i,va,t    iiritain    on    the    ground    that  you 
detract  from   her   i)restige,  diff,.,-   from   the   blind  pride  that 
w.Mit  before  the  fall  of  Spain?     Suppose  some  bold  man  at  the 
Council  Hoard  ,.f  Philip  II.  had  said  that  Spain  in  grasping 
the  globe  was  losing  Spain,  would  he  not  have  forfeited  his 
lu>ad?     \-et  would  not  his  voice  have  been  that  of  true  patri- 
otism and  ival  givatness?     S])aiu  was  at  the  height  of  her 
"prestige"  when  Drake,  s(>eing  her  impotence,  went  into  Cadiz 
and  singed  the  Spaniard's  beard.     'riu>  policy  of  real  strength 
must  be  the  patriotic  policy;   the  policy  of  real  weakness,  how- 
ev(>r  colossal,  must  be  that  which  a,  tru(>  patriot  would  discard. 
This  will  i:ot  be  a,  mere  truism  till  it  is  acce})ted  as  the  truth. 

The  l^>ritish  Empire  in  India  is  an  Empire  in  the  true  sense 
of  Uiuterm,  aud  tUu  uoblest  the  world  has  s(>eii,  though  the 
Koman  Empire  had  the  honour  of  being  the  mould  in^vhich 
modern  Europe  was  east.  Nev.>r  had  tiuMH>  been  such  an  at- 
tiMupt  to  mak,.  conquest  the  servant  of  civilisation.  About 
k,>eping  India  there  is  no  ciuestion.  England  has  a  real  duty 
there,  she  has  undertaken  a  ^jreat  work  and  stands  pledged 


TIIK    KMI'IIIK. 


146 


before  the  world  to  p.rfor.a  it.  Shn  has  vast  intorosts  arnl 
n.v..st>,M,„t.s.  l.r  .l.partun,  would  consign  Hindostan  to  tl.. 
Hai.KMunary  and  idundr.injr  ^n,,,^.,      ^  ,  •  , 

«,d  it      Tl.  Iliudoo  and  tlH,   Malu>nH.:u,  h  t™ 
sh.  w.tl.  d.lli.ulty  k.u.ps  th.  p„HH,  wonid  a^ain  ,ra ^ 
•"nwd.u-ons  str.h,,  wldle  Mahrattas  and  I'indan^s  wotdd  Lon  - 
uunm,  tlMur  raids.     Tli,.,  ''cultivatr-d 


I  )i  I,  I )()(). 


us 


being  to  the  En.pire,  sonietinu-s  rails  against  it,  wouhl  b^  the 
first  to  p,.r.sh  ,u-nsl.e,l  like  an  e.^g-shell  uniidst  the  warring 
elements  whieh  its  withdrawal  would  hit  loos(> 

No  moral  eom,,unetion  need  be  Jolt  in  retaining  this  eon- 
quest,      rt  IS  a  monument  not  of  JJritish  rapaeity  hut  of  British 
superiority,  espeeially  at  sea.     lOngland  was  only  one  of  four 
eompetitoi-s  tor  the  prize.     Portugal  eame  first,  but  shn  was 
too  small  to  retain  so  distant  an  Kmpire,  and  at  the  eritieal 
numient  she  f^dl  into  the  paralysing  g.asp  of  Spain.     1^:^:!^ 
had  as  has  been  rer.arked,  the  advantage  of  undivi.hnl  d.votion 
to  tlu>  aims  of  (,onimerce,  while  England  was  divided  between 
those  of  eommeree  and  those  of  territorial  aristoeraey;   but 
she,  again,  was  too  small,  and  she  also  was  erippled  a    ti.e 
entieal  moment,  being  attaeked  by  F.-anee,  who  thus  unwi  - 
tingly  played    l.e  .ame  of  England.     Franee  herself  was  the 
most  formidable  rival,  and  by  tlie  hand  of  Duploix  she  had  all 
but  grasped  the  prize.     JJut  being  less  maritime  than  Englan.l 
she  was  less  eapable  of  seeuring  the  sea  base  essential  fo  1 1  ^ 
tenure  of  an  Empire  formed,  unlike  preeeding  Empires  unless 

fiom  a  territorial  eentre,  but  from  a  sea  base.     The  navy  of 
1  ranee  onee  overpowered,  her  aeeess  by  sea  onee  barred,  her 
military  force  was  useless.     Her  government  also  was  eoriipt 
was  swayed  by  harlots,  was  weak  yet  despotic,  an.l  med.l  e 
uselueyously  with  the  Freneh  East  India  Company  while  tlie 
British  East  rndia  Company  had  political  powe/to  back  it  and 
a  comparatively  free  haiid.^     The  British  had  also  tlie  great 
advantage  <>ver  Catholic  powers  of  religious  toleration.     The 
lortuguese  brought  the  Inquisition  with  them  to  Goa  and  pro- 
»See  Sir  Alfred  Lyall's  The  liise  of  the  British  Bominion  In  Lulia. 


146 


QUESTIONS  OF  THE   DAY. 


m 


claimed  a  war  of  extermination  against  paganism.     The  reli- 
gion of  tiie  Englislim.m  was  political.     If  he  persecuted  Papists 
or  Dissenters,  it  was  on  political  grounds.    ~Ha..was  willing, 
like  the  Rommt,  to  x-especL  the  religions  oi- nuperstitions  of 
other  races  so  long  as  they  did  nut  rebel  against  his  rule.     He 
carried  this  so  far  as  to  own  Juggernaut  and  swear  by  the  sun, 
moon,  and  earth  to  the  observance  of  a  treaty.     Far  from  seek- 
ing to  convert  the  heathen  by  force,  he  looked,  in  the  early 
days  of  the  Empire,  with  little  complacency  even  on  voluntary 
conversion.     When  to  these  advantages  are  added  the  qualities 
of  the  race,  the  schooling  of  its  institutions,  and  the  appear- 
ance on  the  scene  of  such  men  as  Clive,  Hastings,  and  Welles- 
ley,  British  dominion  in  India  is  seen  to  be  no  accident. 

Still  less  can  the  Empire  be  said  tr  be  the  fruit  of  a  settled 
policy  of  aggrandisement.     An  act   of  Parliament   in   1793 
declared  that  "to  pursue  schemes  of  conquest  and  extension  of 
dominion  in  India  are  measures  repugnant  to  the  wish,  the 
honour,  and  the  policy  of  this  nation."     Both  on  the  part  of 
the  Government  and  on  that  of  the  Company  there  was  a  desi-e 
to  restrain  extension  and  keep  out  of  native  embroilments 
which  sometimes  Avent  the  length  of  pusillanimity  and  deser- 
tion of  allies.     The  pioneers  of  British  lordship  over  India 
were  Clive  and  Hastings.     But  the  idea  of  lonlship  dates  only 
from  the  proconsulate  of  Wellesley,  who,  after  his  Imperial 
achievements,  wrote  to  his  chief  in  England  that  he  did  not 
know  whether  he  would  be  praised  or  hanged  for  what  he  had 
done.     The  invasion  of  Scinde  by  the  hot-headed  Napier  was 
an  aggression,  and  was  generally  condemned.     Against  the 
annexation  of  Oude  protests  were  raised,  but  it  was  justified 
by  the  necessity  of  putting  an  end  to  the  misgovernment  of  the 
native  dynasty,  which  became  insufferable,  and  the  responsi- 
bility for  which  rested  on  the  protecting  power.     With  these 
exceptions,  it  ma,v  be  said  that  from  the  repulse  of  Surajah 
Dowlah's  attack  ■      Calcutta  to  the  repulse  of  the  Sikh  inva- 
sion, which  was  totally  unprovoked,  British  empire  in  India 
has  been  acquired  by  defensive  war.     By  no   moderate   oi' 
timorous   counsels   could   the   march  of  destiny   be   stayed, 


■.^1 


THE  EMPIRE.  „j 

JrouMTt^r ''  '"'""''  ™''  ''"*"''  ^^  -^"  •■'»  by  the  anarchy 
around  It  the  Company  could  „ot  Lclp  taking  ams      In  tZ 

lau  ot  tl  e  Mogul  Empue,  a  power  at  once  of  force  and  of 

ele  o?  ..'  r'"  '""  '"  «'■''"""<'  '"""-J^  the  only 

the  MahSfn  r-  ,  '"'  f  ""■  P°""  ™=  "^'t  ^--^  those 
oi  Malnattas,  not  rulers,  but  raiders,  with  the  fell  Pi„ 

t:;::;:;  ":;:d':?';i;e°'  r:  ^r*^-^  °^  ^^^^'"■'"  ™-  ^"  h-^ 

cunquerois,  and  ot  the  militant  sect  of  Sikhs  bevninl  fiin  q  ^i   • 
who  would  have  waged  against  the  Ma.™   t it tw      ol' 

which  the  cell  IS  the  village  community,  while  the  pervadin.^ 
influences  are  religion  and  caste      Th.L.  ^  peivading 

l)ppn   v^Mrr-.r.  1  "^^^  ^^^''^^  luovements  have 

been  lehgious  and  not  political:   Buddhism,  vvhich  asserted 
sp  ntual   equality  against    caste,  Vishnuism    a    ibera     and 
philanthvoi.ie  reform  of  Hindooism,  and  Sikhism    n   Hi.? 
selnsm  which  gave  birth  to  a  milita;y  sect      G  v  ;;L^^^^^^^^^^ 

espotis  n  of  conquerors  who  swooped  from  the  mountains  of 

piobably  liave  repeated  their  inroads  if  the  Briti  li  hZZol 

the  table-land  of  Mysore  The  Mn.  T  ''  f^  '"'^''  ""'  ^^'^"^ 
as  the  British  tCT  ,  ''^^^^^uls  were  foreigners  as  well 
we  re  thl  te  d.  T'"'  ^"'^  government  were  foreign,  they 

blold     nl  ^  ^°"""""*  ''''''  ^^^'^^  t^  the  Hindoo  in 

bv  an  Arvn  f ,         TJ  conquest  in  remote  antiquity 

fm,n         T  ^^  *^''  Pi-e-Aryan  races  whose  remains  arl 

found  under  various  names -Bheels,  Kols,  Sonds,  Hyenas- 


148 


QUESTIONS  OF  TIIK   DAY. 


H 


ill 


M^ 


'■'i  1 


■   -■    !■ 
■"-'  I 

f 


in  the  corners  and  crannies  of  Hindostan,  and  who  have  no 
<Hmnection  or  followshij>  with  either  Hindoo  or  Mahometan, 
while  the  lintisl,  have  brou<jlit  tliem  hiw,  humanity,  and  the 
rudiments  of  (dvilisation.  Wluit  domination  can  be  more 
oppressive- fhaiVT.aste?  What  insolen.u,  of  tlie  liaughtiest  of 
conquerors  can  match  the  self-exaltation  of  the  Brahmin  in 
the  sacred  books  of  the  Ilin.loos?  What  degradation  of  the 
nic«t  despised  of  subject  races  can  match  the  degradation 
ot  the  Sudra? 

Between  the  second  and  third  visits  of  Clive  to  India,  there 
was  a  period  of  scandalous  intrigue  and  corruption,  attended 
with  robbery  and  oppression  of  the  natives.     At  that  time 
the  Company's  servants,  being  vcny  poorly  paid,  were  tempted 
to  pay  themselves  by  foul  means,  while  the  jx.litical  power 
which  by  force  of  circumstances  tliey  had  irregularly  acquired' 
being  yet  unrecognised,  was  not  coupled  with  responsibility 
Clive  applied  the  sur;.  antidote  to  corruption  by  giving  good 
and  regular  pay.     He  cou],led  resj.onsibility  with  power  by 
obtaining  a  legal  grant  of  the  province  from  the  Emperor  at 
L)elJii      ihe  memorable   ])roconsulate   of   Warren    Hastin-s, 
though  beneficent,  and  felt  by  the  natives  to  be  beneficent  on 
the  whole,  as  well  as  marked  by  consummate  genius  for  govern- 
ment and  diplomacy,  was  not  untainted  by  contact  with  oriental 
statecmft,  or  by  the  financial  cravings  of  a  commercial  company 
for  gain  which  Hastings  was  compelled  to  satisfy.     But  the 
crimes  ascribed  to  Hastings  and  Impey  are  mainly  the  ravings 
of   Burke  s   generous   but   riotous  fancy  set  at  work  by  the 
malignant  infusions  of  Philip  Francis.     Thanks  to  Sir  James 
Stephen,  Mve  know  that  the  judicial  murder  of  Nuncomar  is 
a  fiction.     Thanks  to  Sir  John  Strachey,^  we  know  that  the 
Kolnlla  cliarge  was  far  less  grave  than  it  was  believed  to  be- 
that  the  liohillas,  instead  of  being  an  agricultural  people  with 
a  tinge  of  poetry,  were  a  body  of  Afghan  freebooters,  with  no 
calling  but  that  of  arms,  who  had  imposed  their  yoke  on  the 

1  r/<.  ,V/on/  ./  Nvnvomar  and  th.  hnpmrhra.nt  of  Sir  Elijah  lu,,ey. 
By  Sir  James  iMtzjames  Steplieii,  K.C.S.f.,  2  vols. 

-  Hamnys  and  the  Rohilla  War.     l}y  Sir  John  Strachey ,  G.C.S.  I. 


THK   UMPIRE. 


14ft 


^tindoo  population  that  ti.ey  were  not  exteminated,  and  that 

native  ally.     It  ,s  scandalous  tliat  sueh  a  tissue  of  falsehoods 
as  Maoanlay's  "Essay  on  Hastin,s"  should  he  still  ^  e^"y 

That  he  flung  the  head  of  Hastings  to  his  enemies,  probably 
under  the  sm.ster  influenee  of  Uundas,  is  one  of  t  ,e  wor!^ 
blots  on  the  eharaeter  of  Pitt.  Fron.  the  tin.e  when  the  Com 
pany  ceased  to  be  eomn.ercial,  an,l  as  a  political  power  was 
b  ought  under  In>perial  control,  criu,e  and  eorruptiin  ceasT 
though   from   Ignorance  of  the   land  and   people,  Uun  ers 

r:!::^ed"tr  uSr'"  ^-^ '- «-  ^-^^^^^  -^— : 

marvellourTl:'  k"'  ™'  "'  '^''"'"""'  ^'^  ^^  "  ""^t 
BrtiTvi  ™""''  -""■■"»"'«>y  outnumbered  the 

British;  Plassey  was  won  by  fonr  thousand  men  against  sixtv 
thousand;  the  arms  were  equal;  the  natives  had  som  tTm  s 
be  n  trained  by  European  ofHcers;  the  British  soldier  laTto 
%ht  and  march,  sometimes  to  make  forced  marches  ii,  p„r" 
so     of  a  nimble  ene.  .y,  beneath  the  Indian  sun,  without  the 

ift  rifTh "  r" '" ""  '""■  "°^'  ''"'^'"«'""™  ^«'  "^..ow 

little  of  the  achievements  or  the  heroes.     Thev  have  heard  the 
names  of  Clive  and  Lake,  Wellington  and  h[v  lock  ta  '   ^ 
those  0    Pattinson  and  Pottingvr.     That  story  remains  yet  to 
be  worthily  told.     The  grandest  scene  perhaps  is  the  lasf  tl  e 
struggle  with  the  Sikhs.     N^j,,;      „_.,„  -'■  '^e 

tion  more  than  the  night  of  Ferozeshah,  with  Lord  Ha  dFi^!' 
who,  nobly  loyal  to  duty,  hi«l  sunk  the  Governor-Ge™ ral t 
the  soldier,  moving  over  the  field  to  brace  his  troops  foitle 
renewal  of  the  mortal  conflict  on  the  morrow      A  i°kn! 

rol:ttlt,"l  ^*'r  "^™"°"  "'  *"«  «''>'°^"''  ^^^^^ 
to  show  tliat  the  Englishman  is  not  so  utterly  incapable   as  is 

supposed,  of  winning  the  hearts  of  other  races.    '|S  Lid 

biethien  m  arms,  became  the  most  faitliful  soldiers  of  the 
Empire,  and  helped  to  save  it  in  the  Mutiny 

Great  have  been  the  feats  of  war;  fully  as  great  have  been 


I 


160 


QUESTIONS   OF  TIIK    DAV. 


If) 


M  ! 


tlio  feats  of  civilisation,  such  as  were  performed  amon-  the 
Bheels  by  Outrani,  among  the  Mairs  by   Dixon,  among  the 
K  .onds,  steeped    in  human   sacrifice,  by  MacPiierson;  above 
all    by  John  Lawrence  in  the  l>unjaub.     The  devout  belief  of 
such  a  man  as  .John   Lawrence  in  the  goodness  of  his  work 
was  strong  proof  that  tin,  work  was  good.     He  could  hardly 
have  thouglit  as  he  did  that  the   Empire   was   upheld  and 
blessed  by  God,  if  it  had  been  a  kingdom  of  the  devil.     In 
Lawren(!e,  too,  and  in  his  (iompeers,  we  have  a  type  with  which 
the  worhl  can   hardly  afford  to  part,  of  the  public  servant 
whose  character   has  be(Mi   formed  by  duty,  not  by  party  or 
(piest  of  votes.     We  miglit  prize  the  Indian  civil  service,  if  it 
were  for  this  alone. 

To  the  Gmni^rnvml  the  Empire  has  given  peace,  peace  un- 
broken, saving  by  the  Mutiny,  for  forty  years,  under  which 
poimlation  has  so  increased  that  the  Empire  is  in  some  dis- 
trusts oppressed  by  the  results  of  its  own  beneficence.     It  has 
given  vast  growtli  to  trade.     It  has  given   railways,  canals, 
and  bridges,  the  fruits  of  a  public  expenditure  not  less  liberal 
than  that  of  the  Mogul  Emperors,  and  untithed  by  the  pride 
and   folly  which   built  a  mausoleum   over   a   tooth.     It   has 
given  facilities   of  distribution   which  mitigate   famine      It 
has  given  education,  which,  if  not  widely  diffused,  is  diffused 
enough  to  open  the  leading  Hindoo  minds  to  western  civili- 
sation, and  of  a  stationary  to  make,  in  prospect  at  least,  a 
Pi-ogxes&ive  ra«e.     It  has   given   medical  science  and  son^e 
notion   of  sanitary  reform.     It   has   given  redemption  from 
suttee,  human  sacrifice,  female  infanticide,  slavery;  the  hope 
of  redemption   from   infant   marriage,    if  philanthropy   will 
be  circumspect;    and  perhaps  the  lioj)e  of  ultimate  redemp- 
tion from  caste,  which  seems  to  be  yiehang  in  some  measure 
to  the  railway.     It  has  given  release  from  the  cruelty,  the 
corruption,  and  the  extortion  of  oriental  des])otism.     It  has 
given  a  system  of  taxation  regular,  not  predatory,  and  moder- 
ate compared  with  that  of  the  Mogul  or  with  the  Maliratta 
blackmail.     It  has  given  good  faith  as  the  rule  of  statesman- 
ship in  place  of  eastern  perfidy.     It  has  given,  above  all,  in 


I 


( 


THE    lOMl'IIlE. 


161 


plaoo  of  lawless  power,  law,  the   realm  of  which  advances 
with  the  Hntish  flag,  with  tlu,  Anglo-Saxon  race.     That  can- 
not he  an  Empire  of  nwv.  force  which  in  a  population  of  two 
hnndred  and  eighty  millions  rests  on  a  liritish  army  of  seventy 
thousand  men.     Metternich,  who  said  that  you  could  do  any- 
thing with  bayonets  but  sit  upon  them,  would  iind  here  no 
exception  to  his  rule.     Of  the  civil   administration    it  may 
safely  be  said  that,  whether  it  is  the  cheapest  or  not,  the  most 
benef'.cent  or  not,  it  is  the  purest  in  the  world.     Its  „urity  is 
secured  by  good  pay,  and  by  the  bracing  exig.u.cies  of  a  service 
always  arduous  and  seldom  free  from  peril.     Since  tlu,  estab- 
lishment of  the  Empire  there  has  been  no  rising  against  Brit- 
ish rule  except  in  the  wake  of  mutiny. 

What  is  the  condition  of  the  lliudoo  peasant?    Some  re- 
formers say  that  he  is  the  most  miserable  of  mankind.     On 
the   otiier  hand,   Dr.  Birdwood,  a  high  authority,  says,  -for 
eagues  and  leagues  round  the  cities  of  Poona  and  Sattara 

there  stretch  the  cultivated  fields Glad  with  the  dawn 

he  men  come  forth  to  their  work,  and  glad  in  their  work  the; 
stand  al   through  the  noontide,  singing  at  the  well,  or  shout- 
ing as  they  reap  or  plougli;  and  when  the  stillness  and  the 
dew  of  evening  fall  upon  the  land  like  the  blessing  and  the 
peace  ot  God,  tlie  merry-hearted  men  gather  with  their  cattle, 
in  ong  winding  lanes  to  their  villages  again.  .  .  .     Thus  day 
follows  day  and  the  year  is  crowned  with  gladness."  ^     lu  some 
districts,  evidently,  the  check  of  war  being  removed,  popula- 
tion, ni  spite  of  child-marriage  and  filth,  has  increased  too 
iast   and  the  unwelcome  discovery  of  Malthus  is  once  more 
confirmed.     Everywhere  the   Hindoo  peasant  has  little.     In 
us  chuiate  he  can  do  with   little,  perhaps  hardly  cares  for 

e  nn^M     1         ''rrV'"'^  cannot  work  hard,  his  production 
cannot  be   arge.     His  harvest,  whatever  it  is,  he  reaps.     It  is 

indarees      Nothing  can  be  taken  from   him  or  be  done  to 
him  except  by  course  of  law. 


ti'. 


( 


i"*  -     i 


1C2 


QHKSTIONS   OF  THE    DAY. 


sn!  I  %r^''''  "^  Christianity  in  India,  it  i.s  difficult  to 
spoaic.      1  h.  govornn.ent  of  tin,  Company  feared  to  eneonrage 
the    nussionary,    and   almost   disavowed   (Christianity.      The 
Quoens  ^<,vennnent  is  boM...      ,t    ,.as   discovered   that  the 
Knhnnn  is  not  an  enemy  of  theological  .liseussion,  though  he 
18   jealous  y  tenacious  of  caste.      It  is    Christian  wMe  it  is 
str.ct ly  tolentnt.     .John  Lawrence  was  emplu.Ucally  ho.h.     It 
wouhl  seem  that  sonu-  impression  has  been  made  on  the  Hin- 
doos, on  the  Mahonu-tans   none.     The  great   obstacle  to  the 
spiead  of  Chnstian.ty  in  India  is  tlu    failure  of  belief  in  it 
7  ^'°";«-     '^<^™'^'e  to  say,  the  West  is  now  receiving  a  faith 
rom  te  East;  for  the  mind  of  philosophic  Europe,   '.^ 
it^i    heo  ogical  doubt,  seems  inclined  to  accept  something 
like  Luddhism  as  an  anodyne,  if  not  as  a  creed. 

t  IS  said   and  it  would  not  be  hard  to  believe,  that  the 
lutnes  prefer  native  rule  with  all   its  evils  to  that  of  the 
stranger.     One  answer  is  that,  if  they  did,  there  would  proba- 
bly be  more  migration  to  the  native  States,  which  still  cover 
nea^-ly  half  a  million  of  square  miles,  with  a  population  oJ 
hfty-hve  millions,  proving  by  iheir  existence  that  the  rapacity 
of  the  conqueror  IS  not  boundless.     The  rulers  of  all  these 
i\2'f^lr'  '""!         ^'^^"^gnition  of  adoption  and  the  restora- 
tion of  Mysore  to  its  native  dynasty,  have  had  the  best  reason 
o  trust,  t  le  good  faith  of  the  Empire.     AVhen  Kussian  inva- 
sion threatens,  they  all  come  forward  witli  offers  of  aid      Their 
subjects  perhaps  may  have  some  reason  to  question  the  benefi- 
cence of  a  protectorate  which  guarantees  misgovernment,  till 
t   passes   all   bounds,  against   the    rough  eastern  remedy  of 
dynastic  revolution.     Still   the  average  may  be  an  improve- 
jnejit,  ^since  eastern  misgovernment  did   not  seldom  pass  all 

The  press,  native  as  well  as  European,  is  free;  free  enough, 
at  all  events  to  criticise  even  with  violence  the  acts  of  govern- 
ment. Lord  Hastings,  as  Governor-General,  declared  freedom 
of  publication  '<  the  natural  right  of  his  fellow-subjects,  to  b" 
narrowed  only  by  urgent  cause  assigned,"  affirming  that  "it 
was  salutary  for  supreme  authority,  even  when  most  pure   to 


THE    KMI'IUE. 


158 


Tl. 


to 


look  to  the  control  of  public  opinion."  The  Hindoo  who  iu 
an  Anu'iiciin  lu-riodical  dcnouncr's  the  tyranny  of  tlie  liritish 
in  India,  shows  by  that  vory  act  and  by  tiiu  Irecdoni  ol'  bin 
language  that  the  tyranny  is  not  f^xtrcnie.^ 

We  must  not  gloss  over  the  hideous  Mutiny  or  it.s  still  more 
hideous  repression.  A  mutiny,  it  seems,  it  was,  and  nothing 
niore,  having  its  sources  in  the  insolence  of  a  pami)ered  sol- 
diery, paucity  of  European  ofllcers,  consequent  laxity  of  disci- 
pline, and,  at  last,  that  suspicion  of  an  assault  on  caste  which 
had  caused  the  Vellore  and  other  mutinies  befon;  it.  Its  hor- 
rors cancellc'd  many  a  glorious  page  of  the  history,  while  it 
added  such  pages  as  those  of  the  defence  of  Lu«^know  and  the 
capture  of  the  vast  and  strongly  walled  Delhi  by  an  army  of 
three  thousaml  men.  The  Hendish  passions  of  a  dominant 
race,  rage  mingliug  with  panic-,  were  excited  to  the  highest 
pitch.     Lord  Elgin  was  there;  in  his  diary  he  says: 

"  It  la  ii  terrlbk'  business,  however,  this  living  amongst  inferior  races. 
I  have  seldom  from  man  or  woman,  since  I  came  to  tiie  East,  heard  a 
sentence  whicli  was  reconcilable  with  the  hypothesis  that  Christianity 
had  ever  come  into  the  world.  Detestation,  contempt,  ferocity,  ven- 
geance, whether  Chinamen  or  Indians  be  the  object.  There  are  some 
three  or  four  hundred  servants  in  this  house.  When  one  first  i)asses  by 
Mielr  siihiamhKj,  one  feels  a  little  awkward.  But  the  feelin-  soon  wears 
off,  and  one  moves  among  them  with  perfect  indifference,  treating  them 
not  as  dogs,  because  in  that  case  one  would  whistle  to  them  and  paUhem 
but  as  machines  with  which  one  can  have  no  communion  or  sympathy' 
Of  course,  those  who  can  speak  the  language  are  somewhat  more  n,  rap- 
port with  the  natives,  but  very  slightly  so,  I  take  ii  When  the  passions 
of  fear  and  hatred  are  engrafted  on  this  indifference,  the  result  is  fright- 
ful;  an  absolute  callousness  as  to  the  sufferings  of  the  objects  of  those 
passions,  which  must  be  witnessed  to  be  understood  and  believed." 

The  next  •   itry  is : 

"...  tells  me  that  yesterday  at  dinner  the  fact  that  government  had 
removed  some  commissioners,  who,  not  content  with  hanging  all  the 
rebels  they  could  lay  their  hands  on,  had  been  insulting  thenrby^destroy- 

iSee  "English  Rule  in  India,"  by  Ann'ita  Lai  Roy,  in  the  .Yurth 
American  Hevicti:,  April,  1880. 


'i 


i: 


i.M 


(JUUSTIONS  Ol-  ■(■111!   DAY. 


/I 


1^' 


tl 


m 


hig  their  CRHte,  U'lliiiR  thoin  that  after  dvixth  tlioy  should  bo  cast  to  the 
(logs  to  ho  (hivourcd,  etc.,  was  m.-ritioiKMl.  A  n-vcn-ud  Kn.tlrmau  (•(.uld 
not  lUKUrNtaiid  l\w  0(.iiduct  of  guvfiiiincnt ;  -niild  not  .s.-o  that  there  was 
any  inii>r(.i)riety  in  torturing  nien'H  houIs  ;  Hoeu.ed  to  Ihinlt  tliat  u  "ood 
deal  i.ii-ht  be  .said  in  favour  of  bodily  tortun-  m  well !  'I'licso  aro  your 
tuaolura,  U  Israel !  Iinagiiiu  what  tho  pupils  becuniu  under  Huch  lead- 
lug! "  • 

l!uf,  the  t(>rrorisin  of  this  olorf,'yinim  iincl  his  oompoors,  as  well 
!is  that  or  Nanguiiiary  .st'iitiiu.M.tali.stM    in    Eti^huul,   w.-re    in 
some  imnmuo.  redeemed  by  the  mixtun-  of  elemei.ey  with  firm- 
ness in  Canning  and  Lord  Lawrence. 
Of  Lord  Elgin's  words,  part  was  tru(!  only  of  the  i)oriod  of 
.  the  Mntiny;  i>art  remains  true,     liritish  dominion  in  India  is 
'and  ever  mnst  lu^  that  of  the  strang(.r.  .  between  Uxe  ruling 
and  the  suhjccft  rac..  a  gn>at  gulf  is  lixed.     The  Moguls  came 
from  abroad,  but  they  nuule  India  their  home.     Tiie   English- 
man,  incapable  of   acclimatisation,  can  only  he.  a  sojourner. 
lie  is  more  so  than  ever,  sim-e  he  is  no  long(>r  severed  by  a  six 
months'  voyage  from  his  own  country.     His  rule  is  feared, 
respected,  perhaps  regarded  with  gratitutle;  but  it  can  nevei- 
be  loved.     Nothing,  says  a  writer  on  Indi;i,  is  sooner  forgotten 
than  a  liritish  triumph,  or  longer  r(>membered  than  a  JJritish 
reverse,     it  is  implied  that  what  the  peojde  remember  long- 
est is  that  which  pleased  them  most.     Association  in  goviirn- 
ment  and  the  judiciary  has  probal)ly  been  (iarried  nearly  a«  far 
as  it  can  be  without  abdication.     There  it  must  stop.     Social 
fusion  there  appears  to  be  none.     It  Avould  be  barred  by  caste 
on  the  one  side,  as  well  as  by  pride  on  the  other.     Sir  Monier 
Williams  wondered  why  certain  Pandits  always  called  on  him 
very  early  in  ihe  morning.      ir<^  found  that  they  wanted  time 
for  purification  after  contact  with  tlie  unclean.     Nor  can  it  be 
expected   that   the  demeanour  of  the  lower  members,  at  all 
events,  of  the  dominant  race  towards  the  sid^ject  race  should 
be  free  from  haughtiness.     It  has  probably  not  improved  since 
the  personal  connection  of  the  European  with  India  has  been 


"  Letters  and  Journals  of  James,  Eiiihth  Earl   of  Ehjin. 
Theodore  Walrond,  pp.  199,  200. 


Edited  by 


TIIK    KiMF'IRK. 


166 


oosono,!.  Offi.utlH  c.C  th.  ol.I  s.-ho..!  whose  time  had  been 
I.as«..l  u.  Ind.a,  however  stn.nK  their  ,,n,j„,lic.s,  never  ZZ 
<^    U.  n.j^.v..s,  .t  .east  o,'  those  of  the  hi,.in-  eh.s;,  with  .li:!^ 

e    nl  i.  V'"  ^'".ri''*"""  ^'»''^^  ••"'  i"'l'0.te<l  eiviUsation  will 
l.ul  u,  valne  or  vituhty  on.  of  natnml  growth.     Whatever 
u.-e  was  o.   po-uliarly  nativ.  .x.-eUenoe  conhl  har.lly  ZZ 
suffer  in  the  ,„.o,.,.,ss.      Manehester  goo.Is   there   nuty  he     n 
plenty;  hut  wher.  thes,-  Mil  the  n.ark.t  there  will  no  hn.J 
H.    ho  produet.   son.e  <.r  then,  n.arvellons,  of  native  taste  L 
k         there  w.ll  no  lon,v,.  he  the  joy  of  the  native  workman 
us  ex,nisite  work.     Mnihlings  then,  may  he  of  utility, 
ott<  r  than  n.osqnes  or  mausoleums;    hut  there   will   be  n^ 
an     los.,ue  or  Taj   Mahal.      iVrhaps  to  the  Oriental,  the 

The  process  of  Ji_f:Ung  a  raee  not  more  than  half  eivilised 
^ajiigh  p  ana  of  eivilisation,  is  eostly  as  well  as  ,lifh."^  " 
rndia,  though   gorgeous,  is   poor.     She    is    poor   heeause    tlie 
power  of  work  and  tlie  rate  of  production  are  low.     Y  t    1  e 
ad.n„ustration  is  expected  to  come  up  to  the  standard  and  ful- 
hl   the   Ideals  of  the  wealthiest  of   European  nations.     How 
can  It  dispense  with  the  salt  tax,  which  no  doubt  is  oppressive 
or  with  the  opuun  duty,  which  scandalises,  though  perhaps 
It  IS  only  the  spirit  duty  of  HimlostanV     Fiuance  IppareZ 
IS  not  only  a  difficulty,  hut  a  peril,  and  if  British  coi  s   ^ 
eies  meddle  with  it,  it  will  be  a  greater  peril  still.    Hard,  too 
at  must  be  to  infuse  the  western  spirit  of  justice  and  pr^bit!^ 
inio  native  policemen  and  officials  of  the  low  class.     Home 
opinion  exacts  of  the  Indian  government  an  administration 
up  to  a  mark  higher  than  has  been  reached  by  half  the  coun- 
nes  of  Europe   while  home  philanthropy  demands  of  it  the 
abandonment  of  its  revenue  from  opium. 

As  soon  as  the  Ctmipany  became  military  and  political  it 
was  of  necessity  brought  under  the  control  of  the  Home  Gov- 
ernment. An  Empire  could  not  be  left  outside  the  Empire 
with  separate  powers  of  peace  and  war.  This  was  the  first 
step,     ihe  second  was  to  divest  the  Company  entirely  of  the 


156 


QUESTIONS   OF   THE    DAY. 


U 


commercial  diameter  wliinli  vitiated  and  enfeebled  political 
action.  The  iMntiny  l)rou-ht  tli.^  end  of  tlie  (Company's  rule. 
The  army  on  which  its  authority  rested  had  gone  to  pieces' 
and  the  Empire  passed  to  the  Crown.  Yet  the  incorporation 
ol  a  vast  and  despotic  Empire  with  a  free  commonwealth  was 
re-ardedwitli  misgiving  hotli  by  some  who  feared  the  influence 
of  the  Empire  on  the  commonwealth,  and  by  some  who  feared 
the  influence  of  the  commonweath  on  the  Empire. 

'I'he  Company  discouraged  the  settlement  of  Europeans  in 
India.     l?y  the  Queen's  government  it  is  encouraged.     Besides 
being  an  Empin;,  India  is  now  a  considerable  British  colony 
tliough  tlie  settlers   are  birds  of  passage.     It  will  be  more 
clearly  seen  in  time  how  the  presence  of  a  European  commu- 
nity with  Its  Magna  Charta  will  consist  with  the  administra- 
tion   of   an   empire    necessarily   autocratic.      Community   of 
danger  is  a  strong  curb  on  dissension,  yet  it  may  not  always 
prevail.     The  resistance  of  Indian  manufacturers  to  the  ex- 
emption of  British  cottons  from  import  duties  looks  like  the 
commtn-cial  revolt  of  a  dependency. 

What  does  the  Indian  Empire  bring  to  Great  Britain'^    Not 
trilmtc,  except  in  the  shape  of  the  pensions  and  savings  of  tlie 
civil  servants.     It  brings  a  large  trade,  though  no  monopoly, 
England  having  op.nied  the  ports  of  India  to  the  world.     Of 
military  force  it  brings  so  much  as  is  indicated  by  that  some- 
what theatrical  appearance  of  a  Sikh  corps  in  tlie  ]\fcditer- 
ranean  which  bespoke  lack  of  Britisli  trooj^s  rather  th:in  the 
availability  of  Sepoys  for  European  wars;  and  l.ythc  employ- 
ment the  other  day  of  a  Sikh  corps  in  Egypt,    "'xo  one  sup- 
poses tliat  the  Sepoys  generally  could  be  ust^d  on   western 
flelds.     A  British  army  of  seventy  thousand  is  maintained  by 
India,  but  in  case  of  war  could  not  be  withdrawn.     ^IMie  mate- 
rial value  of  the  possession  is,  after  all,  secondary  to  its  moral 
value  as  a  field  of   mOiievement,  which,  though  the  days  of 
romantic  enterprise  as  well  as  those  of  fabulous  gains  are  over, 
IS  still,  for  a  young  man  of  capacity  and  courage,  about  the 
finest  m  the  world.     The  competitive  system  has   thrown   it 
open  to  all,  not  without  some  risk,  perhaps,  to  the  nerve  and 


M 


THE    HMI'IKK 


157 


muscle  as  vv.Il  as  to  the  corporate  unity  of  the  service   vet   it 
see^ns^Uh  goo,!,,. suits;  so  at  least  thought  .,Z2J^^ 

bility  and  Usiile  ixud       to      e  I         'r'''f'  '''  '■'■^"°"»'- 
accou„tuu,sthesetdo,v„tho  lannua    1,1         H      T  """""" 

diplomacy,  and  on  the  influen.P  of  England  in  hi  T  7 

^  ..e  .euu.,.e  w.,r:;Sr't',:':'o:e::  t^sariut  i:;:: 

used  powei.     Our  fatal  expedition  to  AfKhauistan  in  fq-n  ■ 
a  warning  against  rushing  to  meet  ima^innrv  I       " 

will  bo  unfriendly  and    J;il  '  "»S'n=»y  ''•■"■gcr-     Russia 

Empire  by  way  ot.U  1  "  "",  ''"  "'""='™  *''<'  1"'"="' 
barring  her  Z  t     r  o.^    '"  ^'^'  '"  ''"=''"'"  !*-'='«  "' 

persist°inbaZgEu  sia.  wav't„»  "  ""^  """""  ^"«'-'" 
Kussia  be  more  da  I  '*  TV  f"  7°"  '"'■'•  '^^  «''™''l 
than  the  other  AM  el  p;;;  ^  V"'  f  «"*"■— 
rather,  if  Enrimd  cn„  l,„  Po^»e  s?    Why  should  she  not 

balance  thos  f  we.V  itlT  T  '"''"^  ~""'  '""'•  '^'P  '" 
to  say  '  '  "  *"'■  '''»'«»•"«".  not  for  a  student, 

?::?s::r^n^:t;:';r'^'--^---->o^ 

appears  ?o  be  u^ueso  on  "'/':'"  '"'''"'''  insurrection  there 
-reop.remarns;-:^-rt;S:^--::-- 


lo8 


QUESTJOJSS   OF    J'HE    DAY. 


|l 


I<1 


*!■ 


and    lan.^mage,    so    totally    disunited,    an.l    so    incapable    of 
organising   rebellion  as   they  are.     The  uniting    influenee  of 
tl.e  Empire    tselF  is,  perhaps,  so  far  as  things  ^n  the  spot  a  e 
concerned,  the  greatest,  though  a,  very  n.uote  danger.     There 
IS  now  no  dynasty  or  standard  .1'  ..uy  kind  round  whieh  in- 
surrection on  a,  large  scale  couhl    rally,  and  the  government 
1   take  care  never  to  tread  on  caste;  if  it  is  left  alone,  it 
Avill  take  <.,re  to  keep  rash  hands  off  the  Zenana.     The  Maho- 
metans, whom  we  thn.st  from  power,  no  doubt  are  sullen;  but 
hey  are  a  minority;  they  are  hated,  as  constant  broils  .show, 
by  the  Hindoo ;  and  sullenness  is  not  insurrection.     The  cloud 
of  Wahabee  fanaticism  seems  to  have  passed  away 

A  greater  danger,  and  one  far  more  imminent  than  Kussian 
invasion  or  Hindoo  insurrection,   is  British  democracy,  if  it 
meddles  with  Indian  government,  as  meddle  with   Indian  ..ov 
ornment  it  almost  certainly  will,  indeed  is  already  beginning 
to  do;  while  Hindoo  politicians  are  joining  hands  with  it  by 
l..-.^nting  themselves  as  can.lidates  for  Kadical  .-onstituenci,:^ 
in  Lnglaud      The  shadow  cast  some  years  ago  by  demagogic 
Vice-Loyalty  has   been   lingering   since.      That  a  depend;nt 
Lmpire  should   be  governed  on  demagogic  principles  is  im- 
possible, and  the  impossibility  cannot  fail  soon  to  appear      A 
conquest,  however  clement  and  beneficent  the  conqueror   is  a 
conquest,  and  if  it  is  to  be  hehl  at  all,  it  must  be  held  as  it 
was  won. 

''There  are,  of  course,"  says  Sir  Edwin  Arnold,  in  pleading 
for  the  retention  of  India,  ''many  collateral  considerations 
which  (mghtto  move  the  popular  mind;  such  as  commercial 
beneht.  <'olonial  advantage,  and  national  prestige;  but  these 
are  weak  in  comi)arison  with  the  force  which  ought  to  be 
exercised  upon  the  gvneral  imagination  by  the  sublime  duty 
laid  upon  (Jreat  l^ritain,  if  ever  any  duty  was  sublime,  by  the 
visible  decree  of  I'rovidence  itself."  The  clearest  of  the  in- 
ducements toj^etain  India,  perhaps,  is  the  duty. 

l^gypt,  occupied  by  Great  Britain,  may  be  regarded  as  an 
annex    to  India,,  to  which   Egypt  controls,  or  is  thought  to 


THE    EMI'IRE. 


ipable    of 
Hueni^e  of 
('  spot  are 
r.     Thei-e 
which  in- 
vornmeiit 
alone,  it 
'he  Maho- 
Hen;  but 
ils  show, 
riie  cloud 

Russian 
loy,  if  it 
lian  gov- 
•oginning 
th  it  by 
itueiH'ics 
3iuagogi(' 
ppendent 
'S  is  iui- 
:>ear.  A 
ivov,  is  a 
dd  as  it 

pleading 
erations 
nuercial 
ut  these 
it  to  be 
ne  duty 
,  by  the 
the  in- 


1  as  an 
ught  to 


150 


control,   the    present   access.       As  a  i)ossession   in  itself    its 
value  IS  partly  a,  tradition  of  the  past,  like  that  of  Home,  .nee 

;:rr  r    1  \^^<^;^-'— ^  --pire  rather  than  of  it^^: 

ut  oi  Constant.nople,  once  the  link  between  the  En.pires  o 

lo  Last  and  West;  or  that  of  Cyprus,  once  in  a  people  1  angle 

0  those  waters.     In  the  inlancy  of  agriculture    the  mud  of 
tlH.  Nile,  winch  produced  without  hun.an  effort,  was  priceless. 

ff  vlt^rr'Vf  '1"'"^'"'  ^^  •'  '-''  ''''  only  of  ambition 

01  Pioht,    but  of   benehcent  achieveiuent.     Impartial  Ameri- 
cans have  borne  the  strongest  testimony  to  the  improvement 
nwle  by  Bntish  rule  in  the  condition  o/the  Egypti!.:;" 
For  the  firs    time  since  the  Pharaohs,  the  Fellaheen  see  the 

ace  of  Just.ce.     Tl.e  ,nr.  i.  tlu,  jealous  enmity  of  France 
who,  for  sonu-  mysterious  reason,  imagines  that  Egypt  is  hers! 

British  empire  has  been  won  by  the  great  adventurers  of 
whom  Clive  was  a  type.     Nor  is  the  breed  extinct.     Goidcm 
was  a  specimen  of  it,  as  under  a  religious  guise  and  in  the 
missionary   sphere   was    Livingstone.      Unlike   the    Spanish 
adventurers,  who  (^onquere.l  and  wasted   Mexico   and   Peru 
hese  men  are  organisers  and  pioneers  of  civilisation,  owin<^ 
th..ir   ascendancy  „ot  to  tlie  arquebus,  but  to  character  and 
mind      Ihere  may  be  fresh  fields  for  them   in  Africa   and 
possibly,  when  the  Turkish  Empire  (.omes  to  its  end,  in  tl  e 
pvovinces  now  subject  to  its  rule.     They  may  redeen.  hy  their 
exploits  in  distant  regions  the  reign  of  political  degeneracy 
which  seems  to  have  set  in  at  home.     lU.t  th.-y  willdo  well 
to  remember  Khartoum,  and  trust  to  themselves  alone.  ' 

^«  ^;'  tl'o  military  dependencies,  such  as  Malta  and  Giliral- 
tar  al  tluit  a  civilian  can  have  to  say  is  that  their  ocnipation 
^  distention  ought  surely  to  be  regulated  by  sound  military 

a  01  s  and  no  by  empty  pride.  A  general  would  not  be 
tho  gh  great  wlio  persisted  in  holding  a  useless  and  untena- 
bh  post  because  ho  had  once  occui)ied  it.     The  coaling  stations 

beioie  the  age  of  steam,  and  it  would  be  folly  to  cling  to  them 


160 


QUESTIONS  OF  THE   DAY. 


u 


if  steam  were  suiierseded  l)y  some  new  motor.  Weakness  can 
never  bo  sliowu  by  wisdom.  Nor  can  the  memory  oi  any 
glorious  ex])loit  bo  cancelled  or  dimmed  by  abandonment  of 
the  spot  wliich  liappened  to  l^e  its  scene.  We  are  not  the  less 
proud,  or  prond  with  less  reason,  of  the  defence  of  Torres 
Vedras  or  of  llouyouiuont  because  the  lines  of  Torres  Vedras 
and  the  farm  of  Jlout-oumont  are  no  longer  in  onr  hands. 
Kor  would  Eliott's  defciici;  of  Gibraltar  be  the  less  memorable 
or  the  less  inspiring  if  policy  liad  led  the  British  government 
to  restore  Gibraltar  to  Spain. 

Is  it  the  policy  of  Great  Britain,  as  once  it  was,  to  domi- 
nate in  the  Mediterranean?     Is  such  a  policy  any  longer  pos- 
sible, since  the  growth  of  other  Mediterranean  navies,  French, 
Spanish,  and  Italian,  since  the  change  which  steam  has  made 
in  naval  warfare,  and  since  the  uniiication  of  French  power 
eifected  by  the  railway  and  tlie  telegraph  between  Brest  and 
Toulon?     In  case  of  war  with  France  and  Russia  combined, 
would  there  be  na\'al  forces  disposable  for  command  of  the 
Mediterranean?     What  is  the  practical  object  of  tliis  policy? 
Is  it  safe  access  to  the  Suez  Canal?     Could  that  route  be  used 
in  time  of  war?     Would  not  international  law  close  the  Canal 
against  l)elligerents?     Would  not  tlio  Canal  itself  be  easily 
obstructed  by  an  enemy?     Could  convoy  be  afforded  for  trade 
through  tlie  Mediterranean?     Would  it  not  bo  necessary  to 
resort  to  tlie  route  by  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope?     In  that  case, 
wonld  not  military  expenditure  at  tlie  Cajie  of  Good  Hope  be 
Aviser?    If  Great  liritaiu  means  permanently  to  hold  Egypt, 
there  is  conclusive  reason  for  the  retention  of  her  rule 'over 
the  Mediterranean.     But  does  slic  intend  permanently  to  hold 
Egypt,  or  merely  to  accomplish    her   mission  of  reform  and 
then  depart?     Tiie  otlier  day  British  commerce  raised  a  panic 
ery  for  an  increase  of  tlie  fleet.     One  who  laid  Ids  ear  to  the 
ground  might  have  heard  a  murmur,  not  from  unpatriotic  or 
peace-mongering  lips,  that  the  best  way  of  increasing  the  fleet 
for  the  protection  of  Biitish  commerce  was  to  call  the  Medi- 
terranean squadron  home.     It  is  vain  to  suppose  that  England 
can  remain  for  ever  on  the  pinnacle  of  maritime  ascendancy  to 


^■1 


THE    KMI'IKK. 


ikness  can 
yy  (jf  any 
anment  of 
ot  the  less 
of  Torres 
'es  Vedras 
lur  1  lands, 
neniorable, 
)vermnent 

to  domi- 
nger  pos- 
i,  French, 
has  made 
ch  power 
Brest  and 
iombined, 
id  of  the 
s  policy? 
e  be  used 
the  Canal 
be  easily 
for  trade 
essary  to 
;hat  case, 

Hope  be 

d  EfTypt, 

•vile  over 
y  to  hold 
'onn  and 
1  a  panic 
A'  to  the 
;riotic  or 
the  fleet 
le  iMedi- 
England 
idancy  to 


161 


If  eomm,m.l  „t  the  Meditereuiean  is  to  bf  ,et-.in«I  „„ 

".one,  to  .esce  Spai^,  /ionXl'         \'-r;:ii    Z^iT" 

xitnui,  ot  3,011  v<    have  not  got  rd."     The  si-ht  of  .. 

to  tl,e  SiKuiinnl  by  tl.e  rocolloctio,,  that  E„gh,„,l  took  o' I 
ar,  not  ■„  ,nto„,.atio„al  wa.,  hat  „l,o„  ^ho'vas  a        ,  a     'it 
..lly  of  her  canch.late  for  the  Crow,  of  Spain      ^:,^  ^^ 

"g  to  recover  lier  great  fortress,  dragsjed  her  Iialf-naril-s .  ] 
l....bs  to  the  attack.     Xothing  else  led'her  to  i       t  "eC  e 

fi-"ft  Great  Britain  at  the  tin.e  of  the  A.nericau  wa      ft  t  e 
colon,  ts  wore  her  enemies  in  America,  and  she  was  as  L    ! 
poss,ble  tron,  seeking  their  aggrandise.ncnt  or  symrtM  in, 
v.th  t tar  republican  aspirations.     Gibraltar  alonj  it'^        ^^ 

the  Rrt;  '<,:'"  *°  ^°'"  "'"  «°™l'i"«l  ar...a...cnt  by  whic 
he  Br.fsh  fleet  was  chased  down  the  Channel.  Up  to  th 
ast  and  greatost  of  the  three  sieges,  the  cession  of  (!ib.  .1 

LI  r       r  :'?"«<"■""«  *'>•->"  ProfitaWo  was  alway.s  in  the 

it:'  bv  s    ';■""''  ^'*^""'"-     I*  "-  -.te.nplatod  by  Stl  - 
o»,  by  .Shelbur,.,  ..,,.„  by  Chatham.     But  ICliott's  iunons 

n     1  at.on  of  defeat  ,n  America,  gave  the  liock  such  a  hold  on 
LngLsh  sentiment  that  thenceforth  those  who  talked  of  ceding 

M 


162 


QUESTIONS  OF  THE    DAY. 


It  spoke  witlL  ;.  l.alter  round  their  necks.     Shelburne  mooted 
the  question  in  negotiating  for  peace  with  America;  but  he  at 
once  drew  upon  liini  tlie  denunciation  of  Fox,  who  on  that 
single  occasion  acted  tlie  part  of  patriot.     A  recital  of  Fox's 
arguments  and  those  of  I!urke,  who  followed  in  the  same  strain 
IS  enougli  to  show  how  circumstances  and  the  objects  of  policy 
have  cliangod.     "A  sagacious  ministry,"  said   Fox,  "would 
always  employ  Gibraltar  in  dividing  France  from  France,  Spain 
from  Hpain,  and  tlie  one  nation  from  the  other."     This  posses- 
sion it  was,  according  to  Fox,  which  gave  us  respe(tt  in  the 
eyes  of  nations,  and  the  means  of  obliging  them  by  protection. 
It  we  gave  it  up  to  Spain,  the  Mediterranean  would  become 
a  pool  which  they  could  navigate  at  their  pleasure  and  without 
control.     As  the  States  of  l']arope  bordering  on  the  Mediter- 
ran.ian  would  no  longer  look  to  England  for  the  free  navigation 
of  the  sea,  it  wouhl  no  longer  be  in  her  ^lower  to  be  useful,  and 
we  could  expect  n.   alliances."     It  is  due  to  Fox  and  Burke  to 
remember  that  (libralt;:.-  if  it  wa.^  not  the  sole  title  of  England 
to  tlie  respect  of  nations,  or  her  only  hope  of  obtaining  allies, 
was  the  only  British  stronghold  in  the  Mediterranean,  Minorca 
having  been  lost,  and  Malta  being  not  yet  ours.     The  question 
was  ^gam  mooted  -hirty  years  ago,  when  the  change  in  tlie 
military  val-e  a  Onlu-altar,  owing  to  steam  and  the  improve- 
ments of  artillery,  was  just  beginning  to  appear,  and  when  the 
cession  would  -.--q  thoroughly  won  the  heart  of  Spain      But 
discussion  was  still  branded  as  treason.     Now,  a  naval  writer 
in  the  Fomighthj  Ueoiew  proclaims  the  military  decadence  of 
tlie  fortress,  whicr  he  says  can  no  longer  shelter  a  fleet  lyin- 
under  it;  while  as  a  mere  post  by  itself  it  would  be  worthless" 
and  Its  garrison  would  be  wasted,  since  it  does  not,  as  most 
Englishmen  fondly  believe,  command  the  strait,     ^^or  does  it 
any  longer  retain  its  equivocal  value  as  a  dep6t  of  contraband 
ti-ade.     Apparently  it  does  notliing  which  is  not  better  done 
by  Malta  without  offence  to  anybody's  feelings  or  flag.     When 
It  comes  to  a  question  of  bargain  witli    Spain,  we  have  to 
remember  that  during  the  last  quarter  of  a  century  the  post 
has  been  losing  strength  and  value,  and  that  of  this  the  Span- 


THE   EMPIRE, 


168 


lards  must  be  aware.     We  are  tokl  that  tliey  have  a  plan  of 

loge  ready,  and  are  oonfider.t  of  success.     Xn  oxchailge  fo 

Ceuta  IS  pi-oposed  and  seems  natural.     But  Ceuta  would  be  of 

use      Ike   Malta,   only  for  the   purpose   of  connnandin,  tl^ 

En.Hn  li^  •'"'"'"  ''  '  ""'^'^  '''  -"i^-'^^tion.     That 

popula    on  fully  as  nmch  as  a  fortress,  is  too  certain.     But 

policy,  IS  the  friendship  of  Spain,  who  is  now  caking  her  place 
again  among  the  nations.  ^ 

the  fall  of  the  .Xapoleon.c  E,„im-e  an,!  the  Continental  System 
on  ,vh,ch  ,t.  value  as  a  post  ,le,,ende,l,  was  an  instance  of  the 

uleney  to  chng  to  evevythiug  „n  which  the  flag  has  once  hee^ 
set  up,  however  useless  it  may  have  become.  I^itnnatelv  the 
powe.  to  which  Heligolan.,  belonged  was  friendly  "Hs™ 
might  have  been  attended  with  disgrace. 

Of  Cyprus  the  flashy  acquisition  of  a  theatrical  policy  in  a 

r  of  tt  T  'T  ''f'^/  '"  ""-'""y  "'*•'  Russia  and  snp- 
po.t  of  the  im-k,  whose  barbarons  sway  blights  what  were  once 

to  hold  ,t  il  England  were  ever  fighting  for  her  life  with  o-reat 
n.ar,tnne  powers,  while  abandonment  would  be  humblin^and 
an  avowal  of  weakness.  ° 

To  come  to  the  colonial  dependencies       It  is  of  colonial 
dependences  that  we  speak,  not  of  colonics,  the  value  otl   i' 
no  man  contests  any  n.orc  than  the  necessity  of  n,i»r,ation 

bound  to  the  mother  country  only  by  a  filial  tie.     England 
herself  was  a  colony  of  some  district  or  districts  of  Xort 

oSr  TheT"">  ^''"  Tv  ""'  """'■-  *"«  «-■"-  ^^^^ 
Ottiee.  The  founders  ot  Xew  Enoland  and  other  British  col- 
onies were  as  flt  for  independent  self-governnnrnt  as  .any  ™k. 
and  ^dependent  they  would  have  been  from  the  beginning,  had 


Kit 


gl'^:sTl<>^'.s  ok  riiio  day. 


f 


u 


S 


It  not  1)0011  for  tlu*  twin  superstitions:  Disoovory,  wliicli  made 
:i  ICuropcaii  kin-  sovcnugii  „v(u-  every  shoro  sighted  by  liis 
sui.j.M-ts;  un.l  IN-isonul  Alle-iuncc,  which  made  the  emigrant 
iixleleasddy  a  Hul)jeet  of  the  realm  in  svhi(!h  ]w.  had  been  born 
Tc  tiiescf  beliefs  is  traeeable  the  relation  ol'  eolonial  depen.lenee 
with  Its  natural  eonsequences,  incessant  {■ri(!tion,  rupture  when 
tin;  eolony  grew  strong,  and  the  American  Revolution.  There 
IS  nothing  or  which  an  Englishman  has  more  reason  to  be  proud 
than  ihe  colonies;  thtu'i^  an;  i'ew  things  of  which  he  has  less 
reason  to  be  proud  than  the  Colonial  Ollice. 

To  the  colonial   d..pendencies  s.>  large  a  measun.  of  self- 
g'overnment  has,  after  a  long  course  of  altercation,  ending  in 
C'anada,  with  a  rebellion,  been  conceded,  and  to  such  a  shallow 
has  the  suprenuu.y  of  tlu.  imi)erial  Kingdom  over  them  been 
r.Hlu..d,  that  th..  other  day  a,  colonial  governor,  to  pay  a  eom- 
plr.nent  to  his  colony,  d.-ni,.,!  that  it  was  a  .lependency  at  all 
i^ut  M,  (H.mmunity  which  receives  a  governor  from  an  imi)'nal 
country,  whose-  constitution  is  imposed  upon  it  by  the  Act  of 
un  imperial  Pa,rlia,ment,  which  has  not  the  power  of  amending 
that  eoustiti-tion,  which  has  not  the  power  of  peace  and  war 
of  making  treaties,  or  of  supreme  justice,  play  with  langua-e 
as  you  will,  is  a  dependency.     It  has  and  can  have  no  place 
among  the  nations. 

_    Of  what  use,  then,  are  colonial   dependencies  now  to  the 
imperial  ccmntry  V     This  is  a  distinct  and  reasonable  question 
upart  irom  the  question  of  sentiment,  which  nobody  wouhl 
wish  to  disregard.     J^^iscnilly,  the  colonies  have  gone  out  of  the 
l^mpire.     Tli(>y  have  asserted  and  have  freely  used  the  power 
ot  l(>vying  not  only  duties,  but  i.rotective  duties,  on  British 
goods.     A   Canadian    politician,   who  poses  as  the   organ   of 
Canadian  loyalty  in  England,  in  Canada,  receives  credit  as  the 
author  of  a  protective  duty  for  the  exclusion  of  British  iron 
rhere  is  something  almost  humiliating  in  the  position  of  Great 
i5rit;uii,  boun.l  as  she  is  to  protect  the  trade  of  colonies  which 
are  waging  a  tariff  war  against  her.    If  they  were  independent 
she  might  negotiate  commercial  treaties  with  them,  or  suppos- 
ing she  thought  tit  to  adopt  that  policy,  force  their  ports  open 


i' » 


Tin-:  KMiMKi-:. 


166 


liicli  made 
eel  by  liis 
eiuigmnt 
x'cii  horn. 
'li('H(l(>ii(!t! 
'lire  wht'ii 
1.  Tlw.iv 
»  be  proud 
.'  has  less 

!  (»f  sclf- 
'iidiiig  in 
a  shadow 
lem  been 
ly  a  (!om- 
3y  at  all. 
imjv'iial 
11'  Act  of 
mending 
and  war, 
language 
no  place 

r  to  tlie 
question 
y  would 
lit  oi'  the 
e  1)0  we  r 
Britisli 
rgan   of 
t  as  the 
sli  iron. 
)t'  Great 
s  which 
})endent 
supjios- 
■ts  open 


by  retaliation.      l<\)rmerly  the  colonies   were    prized   for  the 
monopoly  of  tlieir  trach^  and  markets,  the  right  of  tin.  mother 
(•ountry  to  which  was,  as  wv.  know,  ass.'rtcMl  by  (Jhatliam  in 
emj.hatic   terms.     Trade,   wr.  are  still  told,   follows    the   Hag. 
Trade!  follows   profit  wheniver  it  is   to   be  found.     Colonies 
Ix'fore  they  have  numufactures,  import  from  the  mother  country,' 
not  because  she  is  their  mother,  but  because  she  makes  the 
artudes  they  want.     How  can  tra.h;  follow  the  flag  when  the 
flag   no   long.T   makes   it   freeV     When   colonists    pro])ose  an 
imperial  /...llverein,  the  answer  is,  that  thi!  colonial  trade  which 
the  zollvereiu  would  foster  is  small  comi)ared  with  the  foreign 
and  Indian  trade  which  it  wmild  imi)air.     The  returns  sho°w 
that  for  the  live  years  l.SS(;-9()  Kuglan.l's  imports  from  foreicm 
countries  av.'ragcul  77. 1   i)er  cent,  of  her  total  imports,  whilst 
her  imports  from  the  colonies  including  India  averaged  22.D 
per  cent.     Her  exports  to  foreign  (countries  amountecfto  70  5 
per  cent,  of  lu,r  whole  exi)ort  trade,  and  her  exports  to  the 
colonies  to  29.5.     It  is  not  true,  as  often  alleged,  that  her  trade 
with  the  colonies  is  advamung  vmy  much  fasten-  than  her  trade 
with  foreign  eountrit^s.      For  the  five  years  iSr.d-OO  her  imports 
fi'om  ami  exports  to  forcdgn  countries  avcu-aged  77.5  and  77  1 
per  cent,  respectively  of  hov  total  import  and  export  trade;  and 
her  im])orts  from  and  exports  to  the  colonies  22.5  and  28  9 
respectively.     Nor,  in  spite  of  the  security  apparently  afforded 
by  imperial  jurisdiction,  docs  British  capital  seem  to  find  a 
field  for  investment  more  in  the  colonies  than  in  fon-ign  coun- 
tries.    Whether  investors  under  tlu^  flag  are  exempt  from  loss 
the  stockholders  of  Australiiin  banks,  rind  of  Canadian  rail- 
ways, those  of  the  Chignecto  Ship  IJiiilway  among  others,  can 
tell.     The  Chignecto  ease  is  notable  because  political  connec- 
tion was  probably  part  of  the  in.lucement.     Had  Canada  not 
been  a  dependency,  all  the  millions  which  have  been  sunk  in 
the   Grand   Trunk  might  have  remained    in   the    pockets  of 
British  investors. 

But  the  colonies,  we  are  told,  though  they  lay  protective 
duties  on  the  mother  country's  goods,  do  not  discriminate 
against  her.     That  there  was  to  be  no  discrimination  a-ainst 


100 


QUKS'I'I0N«  OF  THE    DAV. 


i 


the  mother  country  was  the  cry  raised  by  Canadian  Protec- 
tionists when  they  wished  to  stave  off  Conmunvial  Union  with 
the  United  States.  Commercial  Union  would  have  done  Great 
Britain  no  harm.  It  would  have  add.-d  to  the  value  of  her 
^(.00,000,000  of  investments  much  more  tlian  it  took  away  from 
the  amount  of  her  exports.  But  tiie  fact  seems  to  be  tiiat 
Canada  does  discriminate  against  the  mother  country  in  favour 
of  the  Unit.Ml  States  by  her  tariff  as  a  whole,  if  not  on  specific 
articles,  to  the  amount  of  at  least  4  per  cent,  in  the  aggregate. » 

]  The  Toronto  Globe  Rives  a  table  compilod  from  tl.e  c^fflcial  returna 
which  chscloHos  the  actual  ad  ralnrnn  paid  i„  18!)2,  in  case,  where  specific 
or  .nixod  specihc  and  ad  vulornn  duties  are  imposed.     It  appears  that 
specific  duties  are  aimed  at  cheap  goods,  to  whicli  the  protected  Canadian 
industries  are  most  hostile,  and,  British  goods  being  cheap,  they  suiter 


Iron  rivets  or  I-oUh  from  Great  Britain    64 
Iron  rivi'ts  or  bolts  tVom  ITnltod  States    42 

Sewiii^r  iniR'hiML's  from  (ireiit  Ilritain. . .  40 

Sewinu-  rnachinos  from  United  States. . .  ,S;jJ 

Nails  and  sjiikes,  averajjo 41) 

Hallway  flsli  idates,  Great  Britain 41 

Hallway  llsti  plates,  United  States '.]\]\ 

Rolled  iron  or  steel  aiiples,  (Jreat  Britain  ^r.^J 

Kolled  iron  or  steel  angles,  United  States  yilj 

Iron  or  steel  screws,  Great  Britain (U 

Iron  or  steel  screws.  United  States. . . .  ^T 
Skates  from  Great  Britain  and  United 

States _fj^ 

Skates  from  Germany (;.^< 

Bar  iron  from  Great  Britain ;{,sij 

Bar  iron  from  f  niled  States 27^ 

Boiler  iron  from  Great  Britain 41 

Boiler  iron  from  Uinted  States '£i\ 

Cast  Iron  vessels  from  ( Jreat  Britain 82 

Cast  iron  vessels  from  United  States. ..  ;ji) 

Cast  iron  p\po  from  (ireat  Britain r>2 

Cast  iron  i,i],e  from  United  States 4;j 


31 
45 

55 

41 
39 


Cut  tacks  and  brads  from  Great  Britain  l.'iJiJ 

Cut  tacks  and  brails  from  United  States  ;!'.) 
(^nt  tacks  and  brads,  over  lOoz.  j)er  M, 

(Jreat  Britain .'  4;jj 

Cut  tacks  and  brads,  over  16  oz.  per  M, 

United  States .'  .jui 

Wrought  iron  tubes,  Great  Britain  and 

United  States r,,. 

Wire  fencing(barbed)  from  Great  Brit/iin  40 

Cuffs  from  Great  Britain (]■>} 

Cuffs  from  United  States 4'J 

Cuffs  from  other  countries  CO' 

Linen  shirts \  4'}" 


Wire  fencinf,'(barbed)from  United  States    48 
Wire  fencinj,'  (llncktlioni.)  from  United 

States  

Wire  fencing,'    (Buckthorn)  from   Oer- 

iininy  

Wrouffht  iron  or  steel  nuts,  bolts,  Q-eat 

Britain 

Wrouffhtiron  orsteul  nuts.boits.  United 

States  

Steel  injfots,  slabs,  etc..  Great  Britain.. 

Steel  ingots,  slabs,  etc.,  Uidted  States  26 

Chopping  axes 33 

I'ick.s,  .sledges,  etc.,  Great  l!ritain 3fil 

I'i('ks,  sledges,  etc..  United  States 38 

Stej-eoty|)e  jilates,  average  rate 119 

Plated  cutlery  from  Great  Britain Co| 

I'lated  cutlery  from  United  States 43| 

Lead  pipe  from  Great  Britain 4G 

Lead  |.ipe  from  United  States 28 

Lead  shot  from  Great  Britain 40 

Lead  shot  from  Uidted  States 29 

Shov  ca.ses  from  Great  Britain 70 

Show  cases  from  United  States 52 

Cotton  shirts,  from  Great  Britain  (per 

•■'•'It.)  4g 

Cotton  shirts  from   United  States 44 

Cotton  .shirts  fiom  otlier  countries 41 

Cotton  stockings  fi'om  Great  Britain. ..  42 

Cotton  .stockings  from   United  States..  41 
Cotton  stockings  from  other  countries 

Winceys  from  Great  Britain 

Cloths  from  United  Stati's 

Cloths  from  (Jermany 

Coatings  from  (ireat  Britain 

Coatings  from  United  States 27 


43 

3.SJ 
28 
32 
36 


Till-:  i:\fi'inE. 


MT 


81 

46 

65 

41 
39 

2B 
33 
30i 
38 
119 

4G 
28 
40 
29 
7G 
52 

48 
44 
41 
42 
41 


28 
32 
36 
27 


That  thfi  colonies  are 


sources  of  military  strength,  or  could 


help  Englaud  in  time  of  war,  few  would  maintain.     They  -tre 
always  being  exhorted  to  arm  themselves,  which  they  wiU  It 
do  e   ec  ively  so  long  as  they  feel  that  they  have  a  cLm    ^n 
G.eat  Britain  for  protection.     Australia  sent  a  regiment  to 
buakini   but  It  seems  ,,he  will  not  do  the  like  again      Canada 
distinctly  declined  to  follow  the  example,  Conservative  jourTai 
being  mos  emphatic  in  protesting,  to  avert  suspicion,  tl  at  tTe  e 
was  no  intention  of  the  kind.     She  sent  a  paJty  of  Voyageu 
a    British  CO.        To  bid  her  arm  against  tllo  Am.ricairi:  t" 
b  a  her  arm  against  a  community  with  which  she  is  in  a  state 
of  social  fusion,  in  which  half  her  people  have  sons,  brotl leis 
or  cousins   to  which  the  most  fervent  of  Canadian  To    es  S 
110   hesitate  to  transfer  himself  and  his  allegiance  when  int 'e 
calls.     Her  arming  against  France  would  be  vetoed  by  the 

La:;^wouT;^"%r'r"i"^  ^^"'  '^''^^^^^^^  -'^  -^'- 

heaits  would  be  on  the  French  side.     The  French  would  refuse 


Glass  bottles 

■WiittTi)ro()f  clothliif,' 34 

2  and  H  pronpcd  forks 

4  and  Opronjfr.d  f,„.k.s,  (j,.,.„t  Hrituin 

4  and  fi  i)i(,n,!.vd  fork.s,  United  8tati-s.  . .     ■„■' 

Hoes  from  (Jroat  Hritain ;,.. 

Hoe.s  fvoin  United  .State.s .'. .'n 

Garden  rakes r^)i 

Seythes  from  Great  Britain  .........'     \>,1 

Scytlies  from  United  states "     .is? 

Sl.!i.Ies  and  shovels  from  (;re..,t  ISritaii'i 
Spades  and  .sliovels  from  United  States    , 

'.xles  from  Great  Uritain cj 

A.xles  from  Uniteil  States ....'" 

Fire  eu','ines,  avera},'e 

Korginps  of  iron  an.l  steel,  GreatBHtaiVi 
I'or-inf,'sofironand  steel,  [•nit.'d  .Stales 
ilxop  or  band  iron  from  (;reat  Britain 
Hdoporband  iron  from   United  States 
Ii-on  in  slabs,  blooms,  etc.,  (ire.at  Britain 
li'on  in  slabs,  blooms,  eto..  United  States 
Iron  bridjres  from  Great  Britain  .... 
Iron  bridges  from  United  States. . .     " '     -it 
I'ijr  and  .serap  iron.  Great  Britain . .  .  •'« 

PiH-  and  .«rrap  iron.  United  States. .  -,; 

Blankets  from  Great  Britain v, 

Blankets  from  United  States ;j7 

Blankets  from  other  countries.  ....  •{! 

Uaslmieres  (Voni  (Jreat  Britain ....  "  -^4 
Cashmeres  from  United  States...  "  0,5 
Cloths  from  ( ;  reat  Britain '33 


SSi 


4r,i 

.Vil 


lih 


4-1  i 

;'>r> 

;i7 
.'{.*> 

IT 

f-. » 

■42 


C'oatin(,-s  from  other  fiouiitries '(9 

Meltons  from  (ireat  l«ntain " .     *  3;^ 

Tweeds,  Great  B-vain  and  ITnited  State.s  32 

felt  eloth  from  Great   Britain 30 

Kelt  cloth  from  United  States  29 

Hor.se  collar  .'loll,,  (heat  Britain. . ..'.""  41 

Hannels  iiom  (Jr.'at  Britain..  34 

KlaniK'ls  from  United  States.  ""  31 

Woollen  .soeks  from  (hvat  liritaln.' ! ! .'.'  39 

\\  00  en  socks  fron.  United  States 88 

Woollen  .socks  from  G.^rmanv  41 

Knittinirjarn,  Great  Britai     " 
States  


ain  and  United 


Knittinj; 


83 


.yarn  from  Germany ^5 

Woollen  cloaks  f,„m  (Jreat  Britain .  ." .' .' .'     32 

"  """'■"  «'oaks  fi ,  United  States 

Goats,  vests,  etc.,  from  (Jr 
Coats,  vests,  etc 


•••at  Britain.. 
,  from  Uniteil  States.. 

Mnrts,  drawers,  etc.,  from  Great  Britain 
Miirts,  drawers,  ,.tc„  fron>  United  States 

"r.seclothin-  .shaped,  (ireat  Britain.. 
lfor.se  clothinu',  shaped.  United  States.. 
All  other  dothintr,  (Jreat  Britain. 
All 


Wi 


other  .'lothiiiw-.  United  States 
voollen  earj.et.s,  (Jre.at  Britain... 
Woollen  c.'M'pels,  I'nited  States... 
Woollen  carpets,  other  countries.  . 

\  ineirar  from  (Jreat  Britain 

Vinetrar  from  United  States .... 
Vlnepar  trom  France 


29 
84 
30 
38 
82 
42 
33 
32 
29 

87 

38 

24 

65 

67 

81 


n^ 


IMAGE  EVALUATION 
TEST  TARGET  (MT.3) 


/> 


4^ 


% 


m 


1.0 


I.I 


1.25 


I^IM    i2.5 


1.8 


U    111.6 


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^t  ^ 


Hiotographic 

Sciences 
Corporation 


23  WEST  MAIN  STREET 

WEBSTER,  N.Y.  14580 

(716)  87iZ-4503 


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168 


QUESTIONS   OF  THE   DAY. 


1  ,     1 

1 

:  i!        : 
1 

to  pay  for  any  British  armaments  whatever.  To  defend  the 
three  thousand  miles  of  open  frontier,  inchiding  a  chain  of  great 
lakes,  the  colony  has  an  army  of  four  companies  of  regular 
infantry,  two  squadrons  of  regular  cavalry,  a  small  force  of 
artillery,  and  a  militia  numbering  about  38,000,  of  which  half 
is  drilled  for  a  fortnight  in  each  year.  That  Canada  will  not 
contribute  to  imperial  armaments  has  been  distinctly  admitted 
by  the  Canadian  High  Commissioner,  who  says  that  she  has 
done  enougli,  he  means  apparently  for  all  time,  in  constructing 
the  Pacific  Railway,  deepening  the  canals,  and  suppressing 
the  Kiel  rebellion.  Upon  liearing  tliis  the  Imperial  Federa- 
tion League  in  England  broke  up.  liy  her  friendly  voice  in 
the  councils  of  her  oAvn  continent  Canada  might  greatly  help 
her  mother  country.  She  is  not  likely  to  help  her  in  any  other 
way. 

A  grand  scheme  is  on  foot  for  making  Canada  the  link 
between  Great  Britain,  and  Australia  by  a  line  of  connuunica- 
tions  carried  over  Canadian  territory,  where  it  will  be  secure, 
as  the  projectors  sui)pose,  in  time  of  war.  Whatever  line  is 
made  will,  through  almost  its  entire  length,  be  within  easy 
grasp  of  the  Americans,  and  will  be  liable  to  be  broken  by  any 
enemy  who  can  apply  dynamite  to  a  bridge  or  cut  a  telegraph 
wire  in  the  deserts  or  mountain  regions  through  which  it 
will  run.  That  the  highway  of  the  world's  commerce  can  be 
made  permanently  to  traverse  the  wintry  wilds  of  the  sub- 
Arctic  region  seems  unlikely,  whatever  lavish  expenditure  may 
effect  for  a  time. 

Jimigration  returns  which  show  152,000  emigrants  to  the 
United  Spates  against  27,000  to  the  North  American  colonies 
are  a  conclusive  answer  to  any  allegation  that  the  colonial 
independencies  are  necessary  as  new  homes.  The  political 
connection  may  sometimes  misdirect  emigration,  as  those  who 
have  seen  the  Skye  Crofter  settlements  in  Manitoba  will  be 
inclined  to  suspect.  There  are  now  nearly  a  million  of 
Canadians  in  the  United  States.  The  object  of  the  emigrant 
in  leaving  his  home  is  to  better  his  condition,  and  he  goes 
where  this  will  most  surely  be  done.     If  he  feels  any  other 


ifend  the 
1  of  great 
I  regular 

force  of 
lich  half 
will  not 
idmitted 

she  has 
jtrueting 
pressing 

Federa- 
voice  in 
;tly  help 
uy  other 

the  link 
mmnica- 
i  secure, 
r  line  is 
lin  easy 
1  by  any 
elegraph 
vhich  it 
e  can  be 
the  sub- 
;ure  may 

3  to  the 
colonies 
colonial 
political 
lose  who 
,  will  be 
llion  of 
imigrant 
he  goes 
ly  other 


THE   EMPIRE. 


169 


attraction,  it  is  to  the  place  whither  his  friends  and  relatives 
nave  gone  before  him. 

Some  appear  to  suppose  that  the  political  influence  of  the 
colonies,  especially  Canada,  on  the  mother  country  is  likely  to 
be  of  great  value.  It  would  surely  be  pretty  much  the  same 
even  If  they  were  independent.  The  i.rogress  of  the  mother 
country  m  democracy  hardly  needs  any  impulse  from  without. 
Australia  contributes  to  British  strikes,  and  Canadian  legisla- 
tures, under  the  auspices  of  a  Ministry  styled  Conservative,  to 
gain  the  Irish  vote  passed  resolutions  in  favour  of  Home  Kule 
that  IS  of  the  dismemberment  of  the  British  Empire. 

To  the  colony,  what  is  the  use  of  dependence?    Does  it 
really  give  military  protection?     Could  Great  Britain,  in  case 
of  war  with  a  maritime  power,  afford  fleets  and  armies  for  her 
distant  possessions?    From  Canada,  we  are  told  plainly,  she 
would  have  at  once  to  withdraw.     It  would  be  a  death-trap  to 
her  arms  and  to  her  honour.     So  thought  Lord  Sherbrooke, 
who  says  that  Lord  Palmerston  agreed  with  him;   and  it  is 
understood  that  the  AVar  Office  is  of  much  the  same  mind      Yet 
protection  may  fairly  be  demanded,  since  it  is  throu-h  the 
connection  with  Great  Britain,  and  the  liability  to  be  involved 
as  dependencies  in  her  quarrels,  that  the  colonies  are  in  danger 
of  attack      Australia  and  Canada  the  other  day  might  have 
been  invo  ved  in  a  war  between  Great  Britain  and  France  about 
biam.     They  may  any  day  be  involved   in  a  quarrel  about 
Afghanistan,  Egypt,  or  some  African  territory  iu  which  they 
have  not  the  remotest  interest.     Their  trade  may  be  cut  up, 
possibly  they  may  be  exposed  to  invasion,  which,  as  even  the 
best  mihtia  never  stand  against  regulars,  they  could  hardlv 


t « 


W   ¥^ 


n 


meet.     The   sole  danger  of  Canada 


^ 


Jr 


arises    from  the   con  nee-    \  f 


tion.     Since  the  extinction  of  slavery  the  people  of  the  United  ''- 
States  have  had  no  thought  of  territorial  aggrandisement;  they  I  ^ 
have  shnink  even  from  natural  extension.     Canada,  were  she' 
independent,  might  sleep  in  perfect  safety  -  under  the  gigantic' 
shadow  of  her  rapacious  neighbour."    Nobody  can  doubt  this     /.. 
who  Knows  the  American  people.     While  Canada  is  exposed 
to  danger  by  the  connection.  Great  Britain  hardly  dares  to 


i 


170 


QUESTIONS  OF   THE   DAY. 


I  ,: 


1 1, 


i' ,  1 


stand  erect  when  she  deals  witli  the  Anieri'ian  Republic,  because 
her  North  American  dependencies  are  a  pledge  in  the  adver- 
sary's hands.  In  almost  all  negotiations  the  impotence  of 
Great  Britain  on  the  American  continent  has  betm  felt.  In 
each  dispute  about  boundaries,  Canada  has  been  obliged  to  give 
M'ay.  She  has  complained,  but  what  else  could  she  expect? 
British  diplomacy  has  done  its  best,  but  diplomacy  is  little 
without  cannon. 

Commercially  the  colonies  may  be  thought  to  have  an 
advantage  in  a  special  facility  of  borrowing,  though  Si)ain, 
Turkey,  Mexico,  the  Argentine  Kepublie,  have  been  able  to 
borrow  from  England  on  a  liberal  scale.  But  it  may  be 
doubted  whether  facility  of  borrowing,  if  it  is  a])parently  a 
blessing,  is  not  really  a  curse  in  disguise. 

Is   any  political  advantage  derived  by  the  colonies  from 
dependence?     Is  it  possible  that  a  salutary  tutelage  should  be 
exercised   by  a   democracy  in  Europe   over  a  democracy  in 
Amerieaor  at  the  antipodes,  its  equal  in  intelligence,  its  equal 
in   power  of  self-government,  and   placed   in   circumstances 
widely  different?     The   idea   is    ludicrous.     AVhat  does   one 
Englishman  in  ten  thousand  know  or  care  about  Australian  or 
Canadian  affairs?     AVhat  does  Parliament  know  or  care  about 
them?    Does  not  a  colonial  question  elear  tlie  House?     The 
Constitution  imposed  by  Parliament  on  Canada  tw~enty  years 
ago  has  disclosed  serious  defects.     The  Senate,  esi)ecially,  has 
proved   a   dead   failure  or  worse.      Yet   the   Constitution   is 
practically  riveted  on  the  colony  because  Parlianu'ut  could 
never  be  got  to  u.  c>nd  to  amendments.     Thus  the  political 
development  of  the  young  nation,  instead  of  being  aided  by 
the  tutelage,  is  impeded  in  the  most  important  respect.     All 
the  machinery  of  British  Parliamentary  government  the  colo- 
nies in  common  with  many  independent  nations  have.     The 
spirit  of  British  statesmanship  you  cannot  impart,  unless  you 
send  out  British  statesmen  instinct  with  it  in  virtue  of  their 
peculiar  training  and  traditions.     The  game  of  colonial  faction 
will  not  give  birth  to  it;  perhaps  its  life  may  not  be  long  in 
the  mother  country  herself.     Wliether  the  standard  of  politi- 


I 


THE   EMPIRE. 


171 


cal  Jiioi-ality  in  a  colony  is  raised  by  tlie  connection,  Canadian 
scandals  have  too  clearly  shown,  though  the  government  having 
harred  tlu,  door  against  inquiry,  only  a  part,  probably,  of  the 
truth  has  como  to  light.     Any  one  of  those  disclosures  would 
have  ruined  an  aspirant  to  high  political  place  in  the  United 
States.    IM  r.  P.lake  complains  of  "  lowered  standards  of  public 
virtue,  deathlike  apathy  of   public  opinion,   debauched  con- 
stitueiuues,  and  increased  dependence  on  tlio  public  chest." 
(loverninent   hus   been  unblushiugly  currupt.      Subsidies   to 
railways  and  locuil  works  have  been  notoriously  used  for  the 
purpose  of  intlu(uicing  elections.     No  rresident  of  the  United 
States,  as  a  candidate  for  re-election,  would  have  dared  to 
asseinhle  the  protected   manufacturers   in   the  parlour  of   a 
hotel,  assess  them  to  his  ejection  fund,  and  pledge  to  them  the 
fiscal  policy  of  the  country. 

A  Governor  is  now  ]K,litically  a  cipher.     He  holds  a  petty 
court,  and  bids  champagne  flow  under  his  roof,  receives  civic 
addresses,  and  muives  flattciring  replies;    but  ho  has  lost  all 
power,  not  only  of  initiation,  Imt  of  salutary  control.     His 
name  serves  only  to  cloak  and  dignify  the  acts  of  colonial 
politicians.      It  makes  the  people  put  up  with  things  against 
winch  public  self-respect  even  at  a  low  ebb  might  revolt. 
Parlia,ment  in  Canada  was  dissolved  the  other  day  for  the 
convenience  of  the  Minister,  Avho  wanted  to  snap  a  verdict, 
on  the  pretence  that  a  popular   mandate  was   required   for 
negotiations  respecting  the  tariff  which  were  on  foot  with  the 
government  of  the  United  States.     The  pretence  was  false, 
and  the  falsehood  was  at  once  exposed  by  the  American  Secre- 
tary of  State,  who  declared  that  no  negotiations  whatever  were 
on  foot.      In  the   fraud  thus  practised  on  the   people,  the 
representative  of  the  Crown,  who  can  hardly  have  failed  to 
know  the  truth,  was  constrained  constitutionally  to  bear  a  part    ' 
In  the  noted  case  of  the  Pacific  Railway  scandal,  while  public 
morality  was  struggling,  perhaps  for  the  last  time,  with  cor- 
ruption, the  weight  of  the  Governor-General's  authority  was 
actually  cast  into  the  wrong  scale.     By  the  advice   of  the 
accused  Ministers,  which  he  deemed  it  his  constitutional  duty 


}  i:' 


'  i^-' 


172 


QliKSriONS   OK   THE    DAV 


\l' 


f' 


\if.  A 


I  I 


I  i 


to  tako,  Jio  tiaiislcmMl  l,lio  in(|uiry  from  I'luliainent,  wliioh 
was  sois('d  of  it,  to  a  lloyal  (Commission  appointed  by  the 
]\riuist.<»'s  themsclvos,  wlioso  object  manifestly  was  to  evade 
jnsticH',  as  they  wouhl  probably  ha,v(!  succeeded  in  doing  had 
not  i)ublic  indignation  bccjn  too  strong. 

Nor  (U)es  the  i)()litieal  connection  form  anything  in  the  way 
of  social  cliaracter  which  ;i  man  of  sense  wouhl  value,  or  from 
\vhi(Oi  a  mini  of  sense  would  not  turn  away.     There  is  no  need 
of  using  harsh  words  in  order  to  suggest  to  what  colonial 
worship  of  a  coronet  must  lead.     The  tendency  at  present  is 
to  revive  the  system  of  colonial  titles.     Anybody  can  gness 
what  titles  and  titlc-hnnting  in  colonial  society  mnst  beget. 
The  accolade  does  not  confer  chivrlry.     In  the  Faciti(;  Rail- 
way scandal,  out  of  four  men  implicated,  three  were  knights 
at  the  time,  the  fourth  was   afterwards  knighted,  and  as  a 
knight  got  into  other  scrapes  of  the  same  kind.     A  knight 
pays  with  a  phme  in  a  government  department  a  printer  who 
has  stohui  proofs  from  his  office  for  the  use  of  the  party  at  an 
election.     A  baronet  employs  without  shame,  for  a  political 
purjiose,  private  letters,  the  property  of  other  persons,  which 
he  cannot  have  obtained    in   an   honourable  way.     Few  can 
believe  it  possible  to  i)l;;nt  aristocracy  in  the  Ncav  World.     Pitt 
tried  it  and  utterly  failed.    An  hereditary  Peerage  clearly  can- 
not live  without   entailed   estates;    you  might  have   a  mar- 
quess blacking  boots.     Even  a  baronetcy  is  a  temptation  to 
provide  an  estate  for  its  heirs  at  the  public  cost.     The  tendency 
of  the  whole  system  is  to  breed  subjects  for  a  colonial  Thack- 
eray.    By  the  good  sense  of  the  Canadian  people  it  is  regarded 
with  aversion,  and  if  it  depended  on  their  vote,  it  would  come 
to  an  end.     As  to  any  influence  of  titles  or  of  the  political 
connection  generally  on  social  manners,  all  that  need  be  said 
is  that  the  manners  of  honest  industry  are  good  enough  if  they 
are  let  alone,  and  that  the  character  of  the  English  gentleman 
is  highly  susceptible  of  imitation  on  its  bad  side. 

Nationality  exalts  and  saves.  To  the  self-respect  of  a 
nation  appeals  are  seldom  made  wholly  in  vain.  Appeals  are 
not  made  in  vain  to  the  self-respect  of  the  people  of  the  United 


THE   EMPIRE. 


173 


it,  which 
il  by  the 
to  evade 
oing  had 

tlie  way 
,  or  from 
>  no  need 
(M)h)nial 
iresont  is 
an  guess 
st  beget, 
ilic;  Rail- 
knights 
ind  as  a 
L  knight 
liter  wlio 
rty  at  an 
political 
s,  which 
Pew  can 
d.  I'itt 
irly  can- 
a  niar- 
iation  to 
endency 
I  Tliack- 
regarded 
Id  come 
political 
be  said 
I  if  they 
ntleman 

ct  of  a 
>cals  are 
!  United 


states.    Amencans  outei.lfi  tl,„  ,,olitinal  ring  are  ambitic.s  of 
•  ng  g.-o.t  o,t,z«„Hi  f...-  ti.at  „a,„e  tl„.y  ,vill  wcuk  l,a.-,I,  an," 
1    l...y  l.av,.  w,.altl,,  .s|„.,„l  it  tVooly.    _T|,„  ,„t„,,l  ambit C 
■  oulon.st  w  ■„  has  ,„a,lo  a  fort,,,,,,  is  to  got  a  title,  go  to  Court 

society  of  the  in.penal  en„„t,;J^^  His  „nv„.t s  and  as„ira- 

.laous  ,Io  not  eenfe  m  the  col5;^:   Not  sehio,,,  ho  lo  ve   '^ 

Ht  must,  ,t  he  ,s  ,„a,le  a  Peer.      In  p„|,|io  „„,„ifi„<.nee    a 

dependency,  even  allovving  for  the  differenee  of  w..altiririU 

.ot  l,ear  compar.son  with  a  nation.     IJeadlift  ,.|f„rts  ,„.;„  fe 

nade  to  e,,l  ,™te  national  spirit  in  .lependeneies.     liTall 

vam.     If  England  is  to  be  the  mother  of  free  n.ations    thp 
nations  mnst  be  free.  'i-'tioiis,  the 

The  ease  of  Canada  i»  not  to  be  confonnde.l  with  those  of 
Anstraha  and  Sonth  Afriea.     Anstralia  lies  in  an  oe  an  of  „e 
own,  without  great  neighbours  nearer  than  China,  or  fear  o 
collision,  save   possibly  with   Knropean    interlopers    in   he 
sphere.     South  Afriea  h^is  no  neighbours  except  the  Boers      d 
the  savages.     The  Canadian  Dominion,  as  a  glance  at  Z  ip 
-the  physical  and  economical,  not  the  political  map -will 
show,  IS  the  northern  rim,  broken  by  three  wide  ..aps  of  a 
continent  of  which  the  inhabitants  are  a  people  of'the'sl^ 
lace,  language,  religion,  and  institutions,  with  whom  its  people 
severed  only  by  an  obsolete  quarrel,  are  rapi.lly  blending  ind 
would  unite  If  mature  had  her  way.     In  the  United  .State    is 
Canada  s  natural  market  for  buying  as  well  as  selling,  the 
market  which  her  productions  are  always  struggling  to  ^nter 
hroiigh  every  opening  i„  the  tariff  wall,  for  tcUrsion  f™, 
which  no  distant  market  either  in  England  or  elsewhere  c-i 
eompensate  hei,  the  want  of  which  brings  on  her  conimerchil 

tens  of  thousands  over  the  line.     Her  own  market,  as  a  wliole 
IS  not  large,  and  it  is  broken  into  four,  between  which  there  is 
hardly  any  n.atural  trade,  and  little  has  been  forced  even  bv 
the  most  stringent  system  of  protection.     A  correspondent  of 


174 


QUESTIONS  OF  THl<:    DAV. 


m 


'.  !t 


<  i 


tho,  Times  tells  his  readers  tluit  Canada  (cannot  trade  with  the 
United  States  beeause  the  productions  of  both  are  the  satne; 
as  though  productions  were  the  same  over  the  whole  continent 
^rom  Labrador  to  Louisiana!  The  same  writer  states  that 
Canada  is  35  per  cent,  of  tlie  wliole  British  Enii)ire,  whicdi  she 
may  be  if  he  includes  the  north  pole.  The  demand  for  aid  for 
settlers  may  have  awakened  England  to  the  fact  that  the 
Canadian  North-West  remains  unpeopled.  It  remains  unpeo- 
pled while  the  neighbouring  States  of  the  Union  are  peopled 
because  it  is  cut  off  from  the  continent  to  which  it  belongs  by 
a  fiscal  and  political  line. 

There  is  an  especial  danger  in  the  retention  of  Canada,  both 
to  the  imperial  country  and  to  the  colony.     Canada,  British 
Canada  at  least  (and  England  cannot  be  too  often  reminded 
that  tliere  is  a  French  Canada  as  well  as  a  British),  with  her 
Governor-General's  court  and  her  mimic  aristocracy  of  bar- 
onets and  knights,  presents  herself  as  a  political  outpost  of 
monarchical    and   aristocratic   England    on    the    territory   of 
American  democracy.     In  this  spirit  her  fervent  loyalists  act, 
all  the  more  because  tliey  cannot  help  feeling  that  nature  is 
drawing   togetlier  the  two   sections  of  the   English  race  on 
the  continent,  and  that  only  by  cultivating  antagonism  can  the 
attraction  be  countervailed.    Being  safe,  as  they  think,  under 
the  shield  of  England,  and  not  called  upon  even  to  pay  the 
expense  of  their  own  diplomacy,  they  are  tempted  to  indulge 
in  a  dangerously  spirited  bearing.     Thus  are  bred  disputes, 
of  one  of  which  arbitration  may  fail  to  dispose.     At  the  last 
election  the  government  distinctly  appealed  to  anti- American 
feeling,  and  leaders  made  anti- American  speeches  which  they 
afterwards  tried  to  soften,   but  which  had  been   faithfully 
taken   down;    Avhile   their   less   responsible   followers,  going 
greater  lengtlis,  insulted  the  American  name  and  flag.     Sup- 
pose, to   use  the  illustration    once    more,   Scotland  were   an 
American  possession  and  an  outpost  of  American  Anglophobia. 
..A  reunion  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  race  in  a  political  or  diplomatic 
sense  tliere  ,caa , hardly  be.     The  race  is  too  much  scattered, 
the  circumstances  of  its  members  differ  too  widely,  some  of 


de  with  the 

i  the  sa)ne; 
le  continent 
states  that 
,  wlii(!}i  she 
for  aid  for 
!t  that  the 
lins  unpeo- 
ire  peopled 
belongs  by 

mada,  both 
da,  British 
I  reminded 
),  with  her 
cy  of  bar- 
outpost  of 
irritory   of 
/•alistrj  act, 
nature  is 
h  race  on 
jm  can  the 
nk,  under 
:o  pay  the 
to  indulge 
disputes, 
it  the  last 
•American 
hich  they 
faithfully 
irs,   going 
ag.     Sup- 
were   an 
flophobia. 
iiplomatic 
scattered, 
,  some  of 


on  01  that  km,l.     Hmv  couhl  (Lvat  lii-itain  nonfo.i.Tate,  even 
n  the  loosest  way,  with  tl,o  U„itert  States?    Where    vol.ld 

MS  of  the  eonfederaey,  that  might  he  done  in  a  siranh.,-    C- 
.t  to  impose  the  will  of  the  confedei-aey  upon  the  wor  d  ;T^ 

Te™  ""Zr  "^"";f-  '"■'  """'-'--y  '^^  ^™-'  r 

rtrea  n.  But  there  is  nothing  visionary  in  th..  hope  of  a  inoril 
reunion  of  the  raee  in  whieh  wonld  he  l.urie.I  the  oh  oiar  d 
with  all  Its  miserable  traces,  including  that  siibserWem  v  to 

partly  by  the  r  dissensions  both  sections  have  been  betraved 
I'mghmd  was  lionnd,  after  the  American  Revolution  to  ket 
her  flag  flying  over  the  loyalists  who  had  settle,l  Tca  1 1  Is 
we  as  over  the  French  Catholics,  who  had  taken  hride 
This  duty  has  been  done;  an.l  it  Canada,  situated  as  ,1  e  h 
eommercially  as  well  as  geographically,  and  wi  I,  Vsolid 
Ireneh  nationality  in  the  midst  of  he.'^is  capa  1  of  1  ei ig 
and  desires  to  be  an  independent  nation,  f  oia  AmeiLan 
aggression   once  more,  she  has  nothing  to  fkr.     TlTlme" 

2^nZTr  ^T^"^'  «'""£"  *l''y-™ot  f  jrttrt  e 
aa^antages  of  a  united  continent,  tliey  a  re  too  wi^P  tn  ,-^ 
„^!!!^LiL-«-i-n.     They  know'  tha(  7  ly      Lh  t       i^ 
pressnre  on  C-affiMT,  they  might  do  it,  without  givin.   Engli 

dnetr//^^^      ,'"''•■'  °'  ^""ter  ports,  excluding  her  pro 
In  ts  from  their  markets,  and  laying  a  hostile  hand  upon  her 
railways,  including  the  Canadian  Paeifle,  which,  thouT  Eng 
hs  .men  seem  to  be  unaware  of  the  fa^t,  runs  through  the 
State  of  Maine.     Let  England,  then,  fairly  weigh  tlie  !a  van 
tages  and  disadvantages  of  this  possessionboth  to  1  eLl    " 

b  •  tt:::^'^'  ™^  '^V'"  ""*  "'  "'«""-'  'y  ofHcia.  re   Tts 

of  trut  lit  ™  t   "°T*^"'''''  '''"'  "^^  ■""  "™  i"  "-  "-tie 
ot  truth.     It  was  to  such  sources  that  England  and  her  o-overn- 

nient  continued  to  trust  for  information  Ihile  the  curreit  o 

events  was  drawing  them  towards  the  American  EevoUition 


17fl 


QI'KsrKJNS   OK    llli;    DAV. 


(' 


Senl.iiiipnt,  upurt  I'lom  utility,  uolxxly  would  dispiira^'o;  but 
apart  lioui  utility  it  cauiiot  hm^  tiuUHJKt.     N(m-  is  loyalty,  how- 
I'vcr  loud.  <M-  cvcu  siMccrc,  worth  much  unless  it  is  attested  by 
self-sacriliee.      A  (!;ina.(liau   I'at  liauient,  a  Coiiservativt!   Min- 
ister hMtiiuj,'  the  way,  voted  sympathy  with  Home  Rule.     This 
was  d()ii(>,  as  a  leading,'  ('ouservative  confessed  on  the  platform 
the  other  diiy,  betiause,  an  election  bein;.,' near,  it  was  necessary 
to  capt,ure  the  Irish  Catholic  vote,     dudj^^e  whc^ther  these  men 
are  likely  to  pour  out  their  blood  without  stint  for  British 
couuuction;  sei;  at  least,  first,  whether  they  are  ready  to  pour 
out  a  littlo  money  or  to  rednco  their  duties  on  your  goods. 
"Loyalty,"   said   (!obdeii,  "is  an   ironical   term  to  apply  to 
peoi)lo  who  neither  pay  our  taxes  nor  obey  our  laws,  nor  hold 
themselves  liable  to  fij^ht  our  battles,  who  would  repudiate  our 
right  to  the  sovereigidy  over  an  acre  of  their  territory,  and 
who  chiim  the  right  of  imposing  tiieir  own  customs  duties  even 
to  the  exclusion  of  our  manufactures."  >     Nothing  (niu  be  more 


It 


'  Cobden  visited  Caniula  ;ui<l  \\w.  United  States  more  tlian  once,  and 
wlien  the  Confcdt'ratioii  Act  was  on  (lie  stocks  wrote  as  follows' to  a 
friend  :  "  I  caimot  see  what  siilistantial  interest  Ww  British  people  have 
in  the  connection  to  compensate  Miem  for  gnarantceinff  three  or  four 
millions  of  North  Americans  livin;,'  in  Canada  against  another  commu- 
nity of  Americans  living  in  their  neighbourhood.  We  are  told  indeed  of 
the  loyalty  of  t'le  Canadians,  but  this  is  an  ironical  term  to  apply  to 
people  who  neither  pay  our  taxes,  nor  obey  our  laws,  nor  hold  themselves 
liable  to  fight  our  battles,  who  would  repudiate  our  right  to  the  sover- 
tMgnty  over  an  acre  of  tlieir  territory,  and  who  claim  the  right  of  impos- 
ing their  own  customs  duties  even  to  the  exclusion  of  our  maiuifactures. 
We  are  two  peoples  to  all  intents  and  purposes,  and  it  -s  a  perilous  delu- 
sion to  both  parties  to  attempt  to  keep  up  a  sham  connection  and  depen- 
dence, which  will  snap  asuivlci  if  it  should  ever  be  put  to  the  strain  of 
stern  reality.  It  is  all  very  well  for  our  Cockney  newspapers  to  talk  of 
defending  Canada  at  all  hazards.  Tt  would  be  just  as  possible  for  the 
United  States  io  sustain  Yorkshire  in  a  war  with  England  as  for  us  to 
enable  Canada  to  contend  against  the  United  States.  It  is  simply  an 
impossibility.  Nor  nuist  we  forget  that  the  only  serious  danger  of  a 
quarrel  between  the  two  neighbours  arises  from  the  coiuiection  of  Canada 
with  this  country.  In  my  opinion,  it  is -for  the  interest  of  both  that  we 
should,  as  speedily  as  possible,  sever  the  political  thread  by  which  we  are 


Tino    KM  I 'I  UK. 


177 


i>y;ilty,  how- 
I  uttt'.st(!(l  by 
Villi v(f  Mill- 
Ilulc.  This 
iho  pliitfonii 
;i8  iie(!(\ssary 
r  tlu>so  HUM) 
for  British 
idy  to  pour 
your  goods, 
to  ap])ly  to 
vs,  nor  hohl 
'pudiiite  our 
ri'itory,  and 
duties  even 
•an  1)0  more 

lan  oncp,  and 
follows  to  a 
\\  people  have 
hroe  or  four 
)ther  comnm- 
old  indeed  of 

I  to  apply  to 
Id  themselves 

to  the  sover- 
ght  of  impos- 
[lamifactures. 
)eriious  delii- 

II  and  depen- 
the  strain  of 
in-s  to  talk  of 
sible  for  the 
I  as  for  us  to 
is  simply  an 

danger  of  a 
)n  of  Canada 
both  that  we 
vhich  we  are 


kindly  than  tho  fnolinff  of  ordinary  (Canadians,  who  sock  no 
titlos  and  havn  no  railways  to  v.>n.l,  towards  the  mother  .coun- 
try; but  It  dons  not  i)rov(M.t  them  from  thinkin-  of  their  own 
interest  first.     Every  on.,  who  has  HvhI  in  tin,   United  States 
knows  that  tluu-.i   is  many  an   Am,.riean  <.r  tin;  better  elass 
whose  heart  has  turned  u.  ()1,|    ICn-land.      The  affe(;tion  V 
tho36  men  is  undeniai»ly  genuine,  and  w(,uh|  perhaps  stand  as 
severe  a  test  as  th.,  loyalty  of  the  depondoncy.     That  tho  lovo 
of  eolonists  other  than  those  whose  special  int.n-ests  or  aspira- 
tions are  bound  up  with  tho  present  system  would  bo  lessened 
by  the  dissolution  of  the  political  tie,  there  is  not  the  slightest 
reason  for  behoving.     It  has  not  been  lessened  by  tho  reduc- 
timi.»f  the  tic  tQ  u  iuorc  tlu-Qad;  why  should  it  be  lessened  by 
the   dissolution?      Race,    history,    literature,   depend   not   on 
political  connection.     The  Governor-Generalship  as  a  channel 
of  British   influence  on    the  Canadian  mind  would  be  well 
exchanged  for  the  free  importation  of  British  books 

This  question  of  tho  relation  of  the  colonies  cannot  be  set 
aside  as  unpractical.  It  may  at  any  moment  present  itself  in 
the  most  practical  form;  for  a  maritime  war  would  at  once 
reveal  the  inability  of  England  to  protect  her  distant  depen- 
dencies and  the  inability  of  tho  dependencies  to  dcdend  their 
own  trade.  At  some  time  it  must  come,  for  nobody  believes 
that  Australia  and  Canada  can  forever  remain  in  a  state  of 
dependence.  Nobody  imagines  that  the  American  colonies 
which  aro  now  the  United  States,  even  if  there  had  been  no 
quarrel  with  George  III.,  could  have  remained  to  the  present 

ZfT.TT''^  connected,  and  leave  the  individuals  on  both  sides  to 
cultivate  the  relatu,ns  of  commerce  and  friendly  intercourse  as  with  other 
nations.  I  have  felt  an  interest  in  this  Confederation  scheme  becau.se  I 
hought  It  was  a  step  in  the  direction  of  an  amicable  separation.  I  am 
afraid  from  the  last  telegrams  that  there  may  be  a  difficulty  either  in  your 
province  or  m  Lower  Canada  in  carrying  out  the  project.  Whatever  may 
be  the  wish  of  the  colonies  will  meet  with  the  concurrence  of  our  Gov- 
ernment  and  Parliament.    We  have  recognized  their  right  to  control 

^Zr^'.^^-Vr  *",  '^'  ''"''''  "^  ""'''"''''^  "^«"-  independence  when- 
ever  they  think  fit,  and  which  we  know  to  be  only  a  question  of  time."  - 
Morley's  Life  of  Cobden,  Vol.  II.,  pp.  470,  471. 


178 


QIKSTIONS   OF  THE    DAV. 


l.ty    I'jn.  .n,..o,s  ol  (;,.,Mt,  UnUuu.     -Phrrn  is  a  poriod,"  sai.l 
Lord  niat,.I.Ionl,  ".,,  U.n  lir.-of  aist.nf,  n;,ti„ns,  lunv.vor  doso 
thnr  oMKUial  .loniurtioii,  at  wl.id,  r.-u-l.  nnist  purs,...  its  own 
c'ourso,  vvl...tl,or  in  .Icnu-stio  or  for.i^n  ,,„Iiti,.s,  un..nil,arrass,.,l 
by  the  otlH-r's  k,.•l.lin,^^     An,l  tl.r  arrival  of  ti.at  porio.l  .Ir.M.n.Js 
•ipon  growth.      Kvory  incrcas..  of  colonial  w»>alth,  or  numb.-r 
">•  int.-Il.^..M,u.,  or  organisation,  is  in  ono  sonso  a  step  towards 
.lis.nt,.grat.on.     The  ConlVdn-ation  of  Canada  was  therefore 
sueh  a  step."     The  opini.Mi  of  Sir  (i.  Cornewall  Lewis  in  his 
Government  of  Dependencies,"  thouj,d>,  like  all  his  opinions 
eautiously  worde.1,  is  easy  to  rea.l.      lOven  Lonl  IJea.^onsfiehl 
torn  Lord  Malniesbury  in  coididence  that  th(«  (Mdoni(>s  would  b' 
>mh.p..ndent  in  a  few  years,  nor  did  he  shrink  from  sayin.r  that 
th.y  m-n.  a  nuUstone  round  the  neck  of  Knj,dan.I  in  the  mean- 
tniie.       li   the  «iuestion   must  c-ome,  tlu^n,   why  not  face  if^ 
Hecause  Hntish  governments  an.  (Ephemeral,  and  in  the  per- 
petual faction  fight  have  enough  to  do  to-diiy  without  thinking 
of  to-morrow.      Probably  the  end  will  come  in  the  form  of   i 
crash  or  shock  of  some  kind.     But  discussion  will  at  least 
teach  statesmanship  to  interpret  the  event  and  deal  wisely 
with  it  when  it  comes. 

The  West  India  Islands  are   lovely,  romantic,  steeped  in 
historic   memories,     lint   as    a    British   possession   they   are 
almost  penal.      I'roiit  or  strength  from  them  (Jroat  Britain 
derives  no  more.     In  case  of  a  maritime  war,  they  would  be  a 
real  bnrden  to  her.     But  she  is  bound  to  sustain  what  remains 
ot  a  white  race,  and  to  keep  peace  between  the  races,  so  that 
there  may  be  no  more  Jamaica  massacres.     This  penalty  she 
pays  for  her  share  in  the  gains  of  slavery,  gains  which  them- 
selves were  losses,  for  the  West  Indian  slave-owners  corrupted 
her  society  and  her  politics.     Peace,  it  is  to  be  feared,  can  be 
kept  between  whites  and  blacks  only  by  a  power  superior  to 
both  of  them,  and  it  would  be  probably  better  for  the  islands 
It  they  were  dependencies  outright,   and  ruled  by  imperial 
governors,  provided  the  governors  were  strongmen  and  impar- 

1  See  Lord  Malmesbury's  Jlnnoirs  of  an  Ex-Minister,  Vol.  I.,  p.  344. 


TMK    KMI'IUH. 


170 


ti.'il,  not  febrile  partisru.s  lik<.  (i,.vernor  Eyre      \«^rn  ,1  . 
|;-y,  uit..  .  p,.tty  ion,  tnul  i..  Huyti,  ^  ns  uT'^Z 
I'tilure,  even  wlien  (iue  uiiuvvunee  is  n.a.ie  for  the     ...     • 

£;:;;»  :rs—s —SHE' 

ll.ey  emphatically  .lecliued  tl,„  offe,-  of  San  Domkgo. 

There  is  an  impressicm  that  th,.  .rnestion  of  H.o  „„i     ■  , 
system  a,Ml  of  the  Empire  .^.,„.rlllv  »■!,,,'       ,  "'"""'' 

by  the  jrancl.e.,ter  scl  ool     ,     t  """"  ''■""  '*' 

.school    nreviilpd    fr...   ..    <-•  .  "^ii-tuaiy  uieas  ol  the 

>^Mh.  i,!.p::;::;:lt»::;i;,'::::,::  •-:■"'[, "'" ■"••"• 

i^e^r;;h^t:-:i::^;:;;'::'i:,;:^,,;:^^;-.^-;..-io,,. 

i^.ami  wai  s.      1  lie  movement  -ot  ri,l  of  the  useless  ■ii„l  t,..,„l  l 
son,o  protectorate  of  the  Ionian  Islands.     uZ^^tl^ 
impnlse  to  colonial  onu.ncipation,  which  has  constt,?^' 
vunced   since  that  tin.e.     ihnost  ev„,y  otestTori  a, ^ 
;  .■t-.nu.M.d  in  favonr  of  colonial  -self-govc       ,e  "ti  1    ,.,  I    l' 
the  cokuics^taudnpou  the  brink  o,'  indcpen         >  "",'  jl" 
now  clannmg  even  ,liploraatic  independence  in    he  mat    I  ' 
™,„merc.al  treaties,  which  she  proposes  to  n.ak    fo  el 

ffit  Xx:f  u '""  -!""■-"■■''/  <"■ "-  British  it ; 

mte.     t,i,u  has  half  emancipated  herself  iiidiciallv  f,.,„„  *i 
'nvy  C^nncil  by  the  creation  if  her  o,™  Slip  c     "coiirr  S  le 
hc'snis  to  be  rather  restless  under  the  military  con^nnd  o^ 
generals  sent  from  England.     At  this  point  there  is  a  nattl 
recoil,  as  there  is  sure  to  beat  any  parting,  hou-ever  nev  tab  e 
a   the  breaking  of  any  tie,  familiar,  though  it  may  blob  ole  to 

iJonml  up  with  the  .system.     There  are  the  circle  of  colonial 
gov.™ors  and  the  candidates  for   imperial   titles      ll    ^ 
..-ctionary  influence  of  a  subtle  kind  is  felt,     blonu  Rulers 


i       I 


I  HO 


QUKHTIONS   Ol'    111  10    DAY. 


liiid  in  forv(M»i,  imperial  ism  a,  sct-olT 


iy  ■  I 


ij^aiiist,  Mu'ir  separatism 


ai   homo.     TIk'^-    piomise    tliemselves    .uid    their   eount 


ami)] 


pie  i-einiK.ii  :is  eompeasatioii   for  dismemhermeiit.      llei 


ry   an 


)i'V. 


the  movement  in  favour  of  Imperial  Federation.  On  this 
snhjeet  th(>  writer  can  only  repeat  what  he  has  said  in  another 
work,  whieh,  hein--  on  a  speeial  (pa-stion,  is  not  likely  to  have 
met  the  eye  of  the  reail(>r  of  this  hook.' 

"  It  was  prol):d)Iy  the  sinhl,  ,,f  (,i„.  (,i».  visil)ly  weakening  and 
of  th(^  iipproaeh  of  colonial  indeju'ndeneo  that  gave  birth,  hy  a 
n'coil,  to  imp.'rial  l<\'deration.  I5ut  tlui  movement  has  been 
strangely  reinforced  from  anether  source.  Home  Rulers,  who 
under  that  specious  name  would  surr(Mi(ler  lr(dand  to  the 
rarnellites,  think  to  salvi;  their  own  patriotism  and  reconcile 
th<'  nniion  to  their  policy  by  saying  that  in  breaking  up  the 
Tnited  King.h>m  they  are  but  providing  raw  materials  for  a 
f:tr  ampler  ;iud  grander  union.  In  the  case  of  the  late  Mr. 
Forster.  Mie  only  statesman  who  has  very  serionsly  embraced 
the  project,  something  might  be  cUio  to  the  JSempsis  of 
imagination  in  tlu>  breast  of  a,  Ci)uak(>r. 

"Tiu;  lm[)erial  fedoraLioJ limits  refuse  to  tell  us  their  plan, 
'riu'y  bid  our  bosoms  dilate  with  trustful  enthivnasm  for 
arrangements  which  avo.  yet,  {.o  be  revt>alod.  They  say  it  is 
not  yet  MUie  tor  the  disclosure:^  TTot  yi-t  time,  w'len  the  last 
strand  of  inditical  coiuiection  is  worn  almost  to  the  last  thread, 
and  when  evt>ry  day  the  sentiment  opposed  to  centralisation  is 
implanting  its(df  more  dec-ply  in  colonial  hearts!  While  we 
are  bidden  to  wait  [Kdiently  lor  the  tide,  the  ti.le  is  running 
str.>ngly  the  other  way.  Now  Newfoundland  claims  th,e  right 
of  making  iier  own  commercial  agreenuMits  with  the  United 
States  independently  of  (,Mier  colonies.  Disintegration,  sure! 
is  on  the  point  of  ludng  com[)hte. 

"  \l  least,  we  may  W  told  of  whom  the  Confederation  is  to 
consist.  Are  the  negroes  of  the  ^Vest,  Indies  to  be  included? 
Is  (,)uasliee  to  vote  on  imperial  policy?  T.ut  above  all,  what 
is  to  be  done  with  India?  Is  it.  as  a  Colonial  Federationist  of 
thon.ughgoing  democratic  tendencies  demanded  the  other  day, 
^  Canada  and  tin    Vanadi,tn  Qmxtion,  pp.  2it0-300. 


TllH    lOMlMIlK. 


181 


r  separatism 
country  an 
cut.  lleiKui 
11.  On  iliis 
(I  in  anotlicr 
koly  to  have 

akcning  and 
B  birth,  l)y  a 
lit  has  been 
Kuhn-s,  wlio 
laud  to  the 
lid  reconcile 
viny;  up  the 
erials  i'or  a 
lie  lato  Mr. 
ly  embraced 
Nenipsis   of 

their  phin. 
iivsiasm  lor 
3y  say  it  is 
leu  the  hist 
last  thread, 
alisation  is 
\Vhih>  we 

is  running 
IS  the  right 
the  United 
on,  surely  . 

at""on  is  to 
included? 
e  all,  what 
ationist  of 
othi'r  day, 


to  be  taken  into  Federation  and  enfranchised?     If  it  is   the 
Hindoo  will  outvote  us  live  to  one,  and  what  he  will  do  with 
•IS  only  tiiose  who  have  fathomed  the  Oriental  mystery  can 
pivtend  to  say.      Is  it  to  remain  a  dependency?     If  it  is   to 
whom  is  it  to  belong?     To  a  Federation  of  democratic  com- 
iiiiiiiities  scattered  over  the  glob,-,  some  of  whh.h,  like  Canada, 
have  no  n-terest  i,i  it  whateve.-?    Its  fate  as  an  Empire  would 
then  be  sealed,  if  it  is  not  seale.l  already  by  the  progress  of 
democracy  in  (Jreat  Britain.     Or  is  it  to  belong  to  England 
done  t     In  that  casi*  one  mend)er  of  the  Confederacy  will  have 
an  Fmpire  apart  live  times  as  large  as  the  rest  of  the  Confed- 
eration, requiring  separate  armaments  and  a  dii)lomacy  of  its 
own.      How  would  th,,,  Ameri<.in   Confederation  work  if  one 
Mate  held  South  Am,>rica  as  an  lOmpire?    Some  have  suggested 
that  llindostan  should  be  represented  by  the  ]5ritish  residents 
in  India  alone.      If  it  were,  woe  to  the  Hindoo! 

''  Again,  the  object  of  the  Association  surely  must  be  known 
Jwery  Association  of  a  practical  kind  must  have  a  definite 
object  to  hold  it  together.     The  objects  which  naturally  sug- 
gest themselves  are  common  armaments  and  a  (Common  tariff 
l.ut  Canada,  as  we  have  seen,  refuses  to  contribute  to  common 
armaments,  and  Australia,  though  she  sent  a  regiment  to  the 
Soudan,  now  apparently  repents  of   having  done   it      Great 
Britain  is  a  war  power;  the  colonists,  lik(,  the  Americans,  are 
essentially  unniilitary,  and  her.,  u'ould  bo  the  beginning  of 
troubles.     As  to  the  tariff,  the  Canadian  Protectionists,  who 
make  use  of  Impm'ial  Federation  as  a  stalking-horse  in  their 
struggle  against  free  trade  with  the  United  States,  are  always 
carelul  to  say  that  they  do  not  mean  to  resign  tlieir  riHit  of 
laying  protective  duties  on  IJritisli  goods.     Victoria  also  seems 
wedded  to  her  Protective  system.      What  remains  but  improve- 
ment of   postal  communication    and  a  Colonial    Exhibition 
neither   of   which   surely    calls    for   a   political   combination 
unprecedeiittHl  in  history? 

"  Unprecedented  in  history  the  combination  would  be  The 
Koiiian  Empire,  the  tlionght  of  which  niul  of  its  Cims  Romanus 
mm,  IS  always  hovering  before  our  minds,  was  vast,  but  it  was 


'  1^:,:,  I 


?  !i( 


182 


QUESTIONS  OF  THE  DAY. 


:n' 


all  in  a  ring-fence.  Moreover,  it  had  its  world  to  itself,  no 
rival  powers  being  interposed  between  Rome  and  her  Pro- 
vinces. It  was  a.  Empire  in  the  proper  sense  of  the  term  Its 
members  were  all  alike  in  strict  subordination  to  its  head.  The 
heaxl  determined  the  policy  without  question,  and  danger  to 
unity  from  divided  counsels  there  was  none.  We  confuse  our 
mmds,  as  was  said  before,  by  an  improper  use  of  the  term 

TT'  •..  f  "^"''  ""PI^^^"'  *^  ^^^^^^'  b^*  to  nothing  else  con- 
nected with  Great  Britain  unless  it  be  the  fortresses  and  Crown 

EmZ'' wT  '^^^-^^^^^-^^d  «°lo»ie«  are  not  members  of  an 
Empire,  but  free  communities  virtually  independent  of  the 
mother  country,  which  for  the  purpose  of  Confederation  would 
be  called  upon  to  resign  a  portion  of  their  independence.  Of 
the  Spanish  Empire  it  is  needless  to  speak.  Its  name  is  an 
omen  of  disaster  and  a  Avarnmg  against  the  blind  ambition 
which  mistakes  combination  for  union  and  colossal  weakness 
for  poweT  After  all,  the  Roman  En:  oire  itself  fell,  and  partly 
because  the  life  was  drawn  from  the  members  to  the  head 

Uie  Ach^an  League,  the  Swiss  Bund,  the  Union  of  the 
Netherlands,  the  American  Union,  all  were  perfectly  natural 
combinations,  not  only  suggested  but  commanded  by  a  common 
peril.     In  three  out  of  the  four  cases  the  communities  which 
entered  into  the  compact  were  kindred  in  all  respects:  in  the 
case  of  the  Swiss  Bund  they  were  equal.     In  the  case  of  the 
Confederation  now  proposed,  they  would  be  neither  kindred 
nor  equal;  and  fasten  the  people  of  the  British  Islands,  those 
of  self-governed  colonies,  the  Hindoo,  the  African,  and  tlie 
Kaffir  together  witli  what  legislative   clamps  you  will    you 
cannot  produce  the  unity  of  political  character  and  sentiment 
which  IS  essential  to  community  of  counsels,  mucli  more  to 
national  union. 

"Steam  and  telegraph,  we  are  told,  have  annihilated  dis- 
tance. They  have  not  anniliilated  the  parish  steeple  Thev 
have  not  carried  the  thouglits  of  the  ordinary  citizen  beyond 
the  circle  of  his  own  life  and  work.  They  have  not  qualified  a 
common  farmer,  tradesman,  ploughman,  or  artisan  to  direct 
the  politics  of  a  world-wide  State.     How  much  does  an  ordi- 


THE  EMPIRE.  jgg 

man    o     Intr  v,  "'  "''  "  "^'''""^  Englishman,  Scotch 

man    or   Ins],man   abont  either?     The    feeling  of  all   the 
colonists  tovvanls  the  mother  country,  when  you  appeal  to  >t 
.s  thoroughly  kmd,  as  is  that  of  the  mothe/eountfy   olds 

ha^y,  and  still  more  hazy  are  British  notions  of  the  nolitie,  „f 

e.    of  Ontario,  died,  his  death  was  chronicled  by  British 

of  rBoTn^:*  '"■ '"'''  ^-  ^^-''"''^'^'  ">^  ^"""''S 

"The  different  Provinces  of  Canada  cannot  be  made  to  sink 

then-  local  interests  in  that  of  the  Dominion.     How  mul  Test 

.:  ofle'r°'""T.'^  '"""^  *°  ^"*  "--  ■"-'  ">'"-*  ^ 
tnat  ot  the  Imperial  Federation! 

"About  India  Englishmen  know  more,  because  their  interest 
in  It  IS  so  great;  but  Canadians  know  nothing.     The   rane  ' 
ot  these  va^t  political  schemes,  having  their  own  eyes  So, 
the  political  flrmanient,  forget  that  the  eyes  of  men  hi tnera 
are  fixed  on  the  path  they  tread.     The  suffrage  of  th"  Fe  eia 
tion  ought  to  be  limited  to  far-reaching  and  iinaginativen     ds 

of  Af  ?  ,  f"  "■-''  """  "'  "'^  '■■"''"  "»'«  l"«tleal.  The  idea 
of  a  United  Continent  of  Nortli  America,  securing  free  trade 
and  intercourse  over  a  vast  area,  with  ext^.nal  safety  and  in- 
ternal peace,  IS  no  less  practical  than  it  is  grand.  The  benefi  s 
of  such  a  union  would  be  always  present  to  the  mind  ortl 

™  dt:  :f '  fi"^^"-  '"r  ^'^"'""»"'  ->»-ted  wii 

bi^ld      T       ^™  't''""  °"  "'"■^''  tl"e  political  architect  could 

pused  11,  ,t,  would  be  a  mere  name  conveying  with  it  no 
definite  sense  of  benefit  on  which  anything  co':,lcrbe  buii; 
To  press  this  receding  vision  a  little  closer,  what  would  be 

ch'vt  w    n!^"  '""•"■^'  ^'°'"™"™'  '"  '"«  British   ",- 
aichy?    Would  the  same  (iueen  be  sovereign  of  both?    Would 

she  We  two  sets  of  advisers?    Sup,K,se  they  should  advi  e 

L^dslf^dur':;  """'f  ^"^  '"■""""■  -  ^''  ^oes  1:  Vh 

heads  of  all  the  other  members  of  the  Federation?     It  would 


I 


f.. 

1    ■■  .. 

\"'  I  /, 


;.    '' 


184 


QUESTIONS  OP  THE   DAY. 


hardly  do  to  let  the  President  of  the  United  States  appoint  all 
the  State  Governors.     How  would  the  Supreme  Court  be  con- 
stituted?    Such  an  authority  would  certainly  be  needed  to 
interpret  the  Constitution,  and  the  Britisli  monarchy  would 
have  to  be  a  suitor  before  it.     How  would  the  decrees  of  the 
Federal  Government  be  enforced,  say,  in  case  of  refusal  to 
send  the  war  contingent?     How,  again,  would  the  representa- 
tion in  the  Federal  Parliament  be  apportioned?    If  by  popula- 
tion, the  representation  of  the  British  Islands  would  so  out- 
number tlie  rest  tliat  the  rest  would  deem  their  representation 
practically  a  nullity,  and  jealousy  and  cabals  would  at  once 
arise.     The  very  number,  too,  would  be  a  diihculty.     If  Great 
Britain  had  members  in  proportion  to  St.  Helena  and  Fiji,  the 
Parliament  would  have  to  meet  on  Salisbury  Plain.     These  are 
not  questions  of  detail,  nor  do  they  attach  only  to  a  particular 
scheme;   tliey  are  fundamental,  and  attach  to  every  scheme 
that  can  be  conceived. 

"The  Parliament  of  Great  Britain  must  cease  to  be  a  Sover- 
eign Power.  The  imperial  Congress  itself  would  not  be  a 
Sovereign  Power.  Like  the  Congress  of  the  United  States,  it 
Avould  be  subject  to  the  Federal  Constitution,  and  would  have 
so  much  authority  only  as  that  Constitution  assigned  it.  The 
Sovereign  Power  would  be  the  people  of  the  Empire  at  large, 
and  a  curious  Sovereign  they  would  be. 

"  The  same  person  could  not  be  the  head  at  once  of  a  Federa- 
tion and  of  one  of  the  communities  included  in  it,  any  more 
than  the  same  person  could  be  President  of  the  United  States 
and  Governor  of  the  State  of  New  York.  Her  Majesty  would 
have  to  choose  between  the  British  and  the  Pan-Britannic 
Crown. 

"Canada  is  a  Confederation  in  herself.  Movements  are  on 
foot  for  a  Confederation  of  the  Australian  Colonies  and  of 
those  of  South  Africa.  Confederation  of  the  West  India 
Islands  has  also  been  proposed.  We  should  thus  have  a  strik- 
ing novelty  in  political  architecture  in  the  shape  of  a  Con- 
federation of  Confederations.  But  it  seems  certain  that  New 
Zealand  would  not,  and  that  some  isolated  colonies  could  not. 


THE   EMPIRE. 


185 


join  any  Federation,  in  which  case  tlie  members  of  the  Central 
Parliament  would  represent  partly  Federations,  partly  single 
communities.  Strange,  apparently,  would  be  the  complica- 
tion of  fealties,  obligations,  and  sentiments  Avhich  would  hence 
arise. 

"This  Union,  so  complex  in  its  machinery,  with  its  members 
scattered  over  the  world,  and  distracted  by  interests  as  wide 
apart  as  the  shores  of  its  members,  Home  Rulers  think  they 
could  maintain,  while  they  bid  us  despair  of  maintaining  the 
Parliamentary  Union  of  Ireland  with  Great  Britain. 

"Even  to  assemble  the  Constituent  Convention  would  be  no 
easy  task.  The  governments,  i3ritish  and  Colonial,  are  all 
party  governments  and  all  liable  to  constant  change.  The 
delegate  trusted  by  one  party  would  not  have  tlie  conlidence 
of  the  other,  and  before  the  Convention  could  proceed  to  busi- 
ness somebody's  credentials  would  be  withdrawn.  We  have 
seen  in  the  case  of  Canadian  Confederation  how  Nova  Scotia 
New  Brunswick,  and  Prince  Edward  Island  flew  off  from  the 
agreement  at  which  their  delegates  had  arrived.  In  truth 
there  would  probably  be  a  general  falling  away  as  soon  as 
payment  for  Imperial  armaments  came  into  view. 

"The  Federation  would  be  nothing  if  not  diplomatic.  But 
whose  diplomacy  is  to  prevail?  That  of  Great  Britain,  a 
European  Power  and  at  the  same  time  Mistress  of  India? 
That  of  Australia,  with  her  Eastern  relations  and  her  Chinese 
question?  Or  that  of  Canada,  bound  up  with  the  American 
Continent,  indifferent  to  everything  in  Europe  or  Asia,  and 
concerned  only  with  her  relation  to  the  United  States?  Aus- 
tralia, we  have  been  told,  already  betrays  lier  intention  of 
breaking  away  from  England  should  British  policy  ever  take  a 
line  adverse  to  her  special  interests  in  the  East,  and  such  a  line 
British  policy  must  take  if  the  special  interests  of  Australia 
are  ever  to  lead  her  into  a  conflict  with  the  Chinese. 

"Switzerland,  the  Netherlands,  and  the  United  States,  all 
federated  under  the  pressure  of  necessity,  which,  stern  'and 
manifest  ..^i  x  was,  had  yet  scarcely  the  power  to  overcome  the 
centralised  forces.     To  do  the  work  of  that  necessity  there 


180 


QHRSTrONS  OK  THFO    DAY. 


ill 


I 

i 

■ 

:i 

i 
"  t' 

ouglit  at  least  to  ho  an  equally  strong  desire.     But  what  proof 
have  we  of  the  existences  of  sueh  a  desire?     Australia,  far 
from  being  eager,  seems  to  be  adverse;  in  some  of  her  cities 
the  missionary  of  Imperial  Federation  can  scarcely  find  an 
audience.     From  Soutii  Africa  comes  no  audible  response.     In 
British  Canada  the  movement  has  no  apparent  strength  except 
what  it  derives  from  an  alliance  with  Protectionism,  which,  as 
has  already  been  said,  repudiates  a  commercial  union  of  the 
Empire  and  insists  on  maintaining  its  separate  tariff.     To  the 
Frencli  Nationalists  of  Quebec  anytlung  that  would  bind  their 
country  closer  to  Great  Britain  is  odious,  and  they  were  recently 
disposed  to  receive  a  Governor-General  coldly  because  they 
suspected  him  of  favouring  such  a  jwlicy.     In  Great  Britain 
Itself  the  movement  shows  no  sign  of  strength.     For  several 
years,  under  Lord  Beaconsfield,  Imperialism  had  everything 
its  own  way,  yet  not  a  step  was  taken  towards  Federation" 
This  was  the  grand  opportunity;  but  Federationists  failed  to 
grasp  It  by  the  forelock.     iXothing  has  been  done  to  this  hour 
beyond  holding   a   meeting   of  colonists,  absolutely  without 
authority,  which  dined,  wined,  and  talked  about  postal  com- 
munications, all  power  of  dealing  with  the  great  question  hav- 
ing been  expressly  withheld.      Lord  Beaconsfield's  successor 
in  the  Tory  leadership  has  plainly  declined  to  commit  himself 
to  the  project.     We  seem  to  be  a  long  way  from  a  spontaneous 
and  overwhelming  vote,  nothing  short  of  which  would  suffice 
"The  approach  to  centralisation  at  once  sets  all  the  centri- 
fugal  forces    in   action;    it  did  this  even    in   the   American 
Federation,  so  that  the  project  narrowly  escaped  wreck;   and 
miscarriage   would   beget,   instead   of  closer   union,  discord, 
estrangement,  and  perhaps  rupture.     Let  us  bear  in  mind  the 
warning  example  of  the  rupture  with  the  American  colonies. 
What  IS  the  real  motive  for  encountering  all  the  difHculties 
and  perils  of  this  more  than  gigantic  undertaking,  for  running 
laboriously  counter  to  the  recent  course  of  colonial  history,  as 
well  as  to  the  natural  tendencies  of  our  race,  and  for  takin- 
the  political  heart  and  brain,  as  it  were,  out  of  each  of  these 
tree  communities  and  transferring  them  to  London''     We  are 


THE    KMI'IJIE. 


187 


gateways  a„.l  al,  the  ,,„i„t»  „f  n,ant!„Jv.„'t   ,?T„*^,;  '^;'" 

sions,  Imperialism  really  appeals  '^       '" 

vent  tl,e  eolonies  f  r,;::,^^™  tr^r "  """  -" 
least  as  grand  as  that  of  which  the  Inmeri.ur]  r' 

:!:;^:^t^:Xtf;:i:aj5'S^^ 

wilt'  "Tf"  '™^'"^'«« " ' '-  ^■"'«>  sti   .;,:::; 

needed  to  bring  this  about  hat  the  ^ZT^IJ^:!^ 

X"  reh\'i:t:.r"^''  '■""  ^  -^^-^^o-'.." 

"  Unless  all  present  appearances  on  the  political  horizon  are 
« Old,  and  the  soe.al  problems  which  are  comins  into  view 
thought  than  the  airy  fahrio  of  Imperial  Federation. 

InM«r ial  llrZ"'  1  °""""  ""  ""'""'"^  representation  in  the 
in.peual  laihameut  appears  to  have  been  laid  aside.     The 


(    , 

if; 


'I 


188 


QUESTIONS   OK   TFIK   DAY. 


m 

i 

H'^ 

1 . 

m 

i 

■11  i.: 

•v'i 

^ 

^^^^Ih'* 

H 

.1 

i 

1 

ooioctions  urge.l  .gainst  it  hy  F.u,.kn  on  tl,o  ground  of  (listanne 
have    boon    to  a  great  oxtont  roniovo.l  hy  stoan.,  tl.ongh  it 
m.gl.t  oven   now  bo  .lifli.nlt  to   call    together  a  world-wide 
arhnnient  in  tnno  of  maritime  war.     But  the  objeetion  still 
d."CKsive  ,.  that  the  colonies  woul.l  not  put  tlieir  aff/tirs  into  the 
hamls  of  an  Assembly  in  which  their  representation  would  be 
overwhelmingly  outnumbered.     Kor  could  they  trust  represen- 
tatives domiciled  in  London  who,  under  tin,  influence  of  London 
society   would  be  apt  to  become  more  ]iritisli  than  the  British 
the.nselves.     These  new  countries,  which  have  such  difficulty 
in  hnding  suitable  men  for  their  own  legislatures,  would  have 
difficul  y  in  hn.  ing  men  to  represent  them  at  Westminster  at 
all.      rhey  might  have  to  fall  back  on  expatriated  men  of 
wealth,  in  whom,  as  representatives  of  colonial  sentiment,  very 
little  conhdence  could  be  placed.     Supposing  that  the  members 
for  the  colonies  remained  colonial,  and  tried  to  make  up  for 
their  lack  of  numbers  at  Westminster  by  combining  among 
themselves  and  log-rolling,  they  might  become  a  serious  addi- 
tion  to   the   distractions  of  the   British   Parliament,  which 
assuredly  need  no  increase. 

"Let  it  be  taken  as  certain  and  irreversible  that  the  colonies 
will  not  part  with  any  portion  of  their  self-government  If  a 
seheme  can  be  devised  by  which  they  can  be  governed  by  an 
Assembly  at  Westminster  without  any  loss  to  them  of  self- 
government  it  may,  supposing  it  be  presented  to  them  in  an 
intelligible  and  practical  form,  stand  a  chance  of  consideration 
at  their  hands. 

"A  crumb  of  comfort  ha.s  just  fallen  to  the  advocates  of 
Imperial  federation  in  the  shape  of  a  Peerage  conferred  on  a 
colonist.  Phis  is  hailed  as  representation  of  the  colonies  in 
the  British  Parliament.  The  number  of  such  Peers  must 
always  be  very  small,  while  the  House  in  which  they  sit  is  not 
that  of  power  but  that  from  which  power  has  departed.  But 
wlio  can  less  represent  colonial  sentiment  than  a  millionaire 
transplanted  to  Mayfair?  A  millionaire,  to  be  made  a  Peei'  a 
man  must  be,  and  to  have  ma.le  money  out  of  the  Colony  rather 
than  to  have  done  service  in  it  will  be  the  indispensable  quali- 


TIIK    lOMlMHK. 


189 


fication  for  tho  honour.  Fn  particular  cases  the  two  qualifica- 
tions may  no  doubt  b,.  conibincd,  but  the  general  fruits  of  tl  e 
n.ctice  are  hkely  to  be  false  anU.ition  ^n,!  enhanced  desire 

"Tl,e  Imperial  Podorationists  scon,  now  to  be  splitting  into 
sect.ons  w,t ,  rtiifc-ent  poliei...,  and  or.anH.     Apart  tJnZ 
alvocato,  of  an  Imperial  I'arlian.ent,  wi.cso  contidcnce  seen.s 
o  be  fa, hng,  stan.l  tl,o  a,lvoeate.,  of  a  military  league  on  one 
1«"'    and  of  a  fiseal  Ieag,re  o„  the  otber,  o^it  tl^  Ue„vm 
wo,.d»  are  preferred,  of  a  Kriegsverein  and  a  Zollverei,^     T  , 
advocates  of  a  Kriegsve,-ei„  lave  bad  tbeir  answer,  so  far  as 
,a,,a,la  ,s  eoncerned,  A-o.n  tbe  Canadian  (bmmissloner,  who 
tells  tl,e,n  that  l,berty  of  transit  over  (!a„adia„  roads,  at  the 
.■eg,,lar  rates,  w,ll  be  Canada's  eontribution.     Tl.ey  are  no  v 
onfronted  by  faet.     The  advoeates  of  a  Zollve,.ein  wi  1 IZ 
hemselves  confronte,!  by  faet  as  soon  as  they  ehoose  to  p„t  to 
the  protecte,l  .nannfaetnrer  of  Canada  the  qnostion  wl,ethe,  he 
.s  w,Il,ng,  ,„  eonsideration  of  imperial  dise,-imi„atio„  in  her 

InZe ,  f  H-     Ti'  ""  '■' ?°'''  •'""''''  °"  ^"'^'^  Soo''^-    IM  "-e 
apostle  of  hseal  Imper,al,s,„,  who  faneies  that  l,e  has  all  Canada 

m  h,s  favour,  ,„ooted  that  point  before  anaudienee  at  Torol 

or  Montreal,  a  cl,,ll  would  at  onee  have  eo,„e  over  the  asse.nbly 

Ihe  latest  sehe,ne  is  that  proposed  by  the  Canadia.>  Com- 

and  h,s  two  fellow-Com,n,ssio„ers  iron,  Australia  and  South 

Afnea  sl,o„ld  be  made  Privy  Cou„eillo,.s  and  „,e,„bers  at  on  e 

of  the  ,n,per.al  and  the  eolonial  Cabinet.     He   at  the  same 

,me  lauds  the  praetiee  of  ,„aking  colonial  Peers.     It  is  to  be 

'•ared  tha    a,nong  these  Commissioners  only  one  would  be 

found  capable  of  thus  nreutally  bestriding  the  ocean  and  sto-- 

um  at  once  the  councils  of  two  Cabinets,  perhaps  belonging  to 

oppos,te  partres  and  having  different  ends   in  view      Ihe 

scheme  has  found  as  yet  but  one  adherent." 


As  war  is  the  peril  of  Empire,  a  paper  on  the  subject  o(  the 
Emprre  ,s  hardly  complete  without  a  word  as  to  the  proba- 


i 

t 

i1 


190 


QUESTIONS   OK  TIIK    DAV 


I 


■;*■ 


11 


!  U  J! 

V.  U    !l 


w 


bihties  of  war.      [s  the  tendo.my  to  war  dedinins?     Are  the 
hopes  of  the  Peac,  Society  on  the  eve  or  near  the  eve  of  being 
fulhlled?     M.)r(.  men  are  under  arms  in  Europe  than  ever  were 
under  arms  before.     There  ean  be  no  doubt  that  in  the  course 
of  history  the  war  spirit  has  on  the  wliole  grown  weaker      It 
,  plainly  XfiQiid&i  Vefor.u  tlic  advance  of  civilisation.     An  Assyr- 
ian or  I'ersian  king  made  his  annual  war  as  regularly  as  a 
king  of  France  made  his  annual  hunt;  and  the  same  was  the 
habit  of  the  Turkish  Sultans  wliile  their  Empire  was  stron- 
War  in  the  eyes  of  a  Greek  or   Itoman  was  the  highest  of 
occupations,  and  Plato's  ideal  citizens  are  warriors.     Industry 
was  the  lot  and  badge  of  the  slave.     War  is  now  not  normal 
but  exceptional.     Of  late  there  has  been  a  distinct  growth  of 
moral  sentiment  against  the  use  of  the  sword.     Cliarles  V 
told  a  young  soldier  who  pined  for  action  that  he  loved  peace 
no  more  than  the  youth  himself.     At  a  much  later  day  (Jhat- 
ham  avowed  himself  "a  lover  of  honourable  war;  »  and  in  the 
writings  of  liurke  will  be  found  a  general  recognition  of  suc- 
cess in  war  as  a  test  of  national  happiness  and  greatness. 
J^eace  sentiment  is  of  course  conliued  to  the  domain  of  moral 
civilisation;  it  does  not  prevail  among  the  Turks,  or  amon-  the 
people  of  South  America;  nor  does  it  prevail  in  its  moral  form 
among  the  Chinese,  though  they  have  an  industrial  antipathy 
to  arms  and  the  military  profession.     It  can  scarcely  be  said 
that  religion  has  done  much  to  quell  the  spirit  of  war.     The 
Polytheistic  religion  of  the  ancients  encouraged  it  by  identify- 
ing the  god  with  the  victory  and  aggrandisement  of  the  tribe 
Tlie  books  which  embody  the  tribal  religion  of  the  Jew  incited 
him  to  wage  internecine  war  with  the  neighbouring  tribes,  and 
Christian  believers  in  the  authority  of  the  Old  Testament  have 
thence  learned  to  fight  the  battles  of  the  Lord.     Tlie  Gospel  is 
in  principle  against  war,  yet  does  not  expressly  condemn  it, 
but,  on  the  contrary,  recognises  the  soldier's  calling  as  lawful 
and  by  likening  the  Christian's  figlit  to  that  of  the  warrior 
seems  to  imply  that  there  is  nothing  in  the  warrior's  fight 
repugnant  to  Christian  sentiment.     It  is  needless  to  say  that 
Christianity  has  not  persuaded  nations  to  turn  the  other  cheek 


THE    KMI'IHK 


101 


vo,y  l,ko  t  ,  ,al,.,„,  ,„  tl„s  >v»,„.„t.     Tl.ey  l,av<.  a.„„„„,l  tha^ 
ho  L„,,,  0,  „o,„,  „„„^  f„^^|,  ,^;^,_  ^1,^,  ^J  _     m,  .1  t  at 

ry  have  suns  r„  />«„„,  huug  ,„,  t,opl,i..s  i„  thohtnp  ' 
^  ".t  hIo,,sc»I  «ta,„lanl,,  to  say  nothing  of  tho  part  ,.h.yo  I  Zth; 
•■Icgy  as  tru ctcr.s  of  religious  war  ^ 

vome,  thougl,  a  l.o|u,l,l,c,  was  not  a  cloniocracy,  but  a],  aris- 
tocracy ending  m  an  en.pire.     Athens,  whicl.  L  b™  o     n 

.;  "0.-.;>  o.  fcnaal  war,  1!::  ^e^^r,  'l::,?  tt^- !  Z 
.  ency  by  ur.ng  morecnaries  to  do  tho  figbfing  on  the    teb 
I   tl,e  .„ot.vc  power  here  was  industry  rather  than  dem„„l 
the  two  counnonly  go  together,  and  it  is  o,dy  under  dcmoe  u 
that  industry  rules  the  State.    The  case  of  revolut  ,t  ,We 
was  mamfestly  abnormal.     Under  the  Couven  b's  fe  w  "^ 
dictatorate  i„  comraission,  not  a  demooracv    an,l  f  !  7 
which  her  nrastcrs  wielded  were  inherit  dZ:  Th et,  tith  T," 
power  of  eonseription  fronr  the  military  mcLd,;   w  ,        Z 
.supplies    were    raised    by    eonfiseatiou.      Amon.^  the  So, 
Amenean  States  there  has  been  constant  fighttag  °bu     hev  a  ' 
clomocrat.e  ,„  form  only,  in  reality  they  are  dictator  tesnL 
rassnrg  usually  by  violence  frenr  hand  to  hand    1^;  A  ,',  X™ 
cmoeraey  made  tho  greatest  war  since  those  of  Xapofeon    bu 
th.s  was  a  war  of  self-preservation,  and  no  dis,  os  tTon  w^s 
s  ow    ,0  „.,k,  „,^  „f  y,^  ^^^^  .^_,____^.^^__^^  ^^^  foo         ts  eir 

iias  so  far  not  made  tlie  government  less  military  or  leTTn 
reduot.on  of  armaments;  though  it  might  have  be  n'  susp  eted 
that  the  peasantry  who  have  groaned  iind^r  fi,.  ^"^P^cted 
would  at  onee  have  voted  it  ^JT'^^^J^^^^^t^ 


.f  il 


!•  ' 


1,  Vf:. 

1  •  f  I 


109 


QUE.STIoNS   nl-    rnK    DAV 


11  w 


¥■  I  ! 


ii  III  1 


r.'i' 


1  ii{  i 

li 


lowing  tho    H()iirl>ons,  ho  fill».(l   Vvunv.e  with  military  spirit, 
and  ol)e(iioiu!e  to  military  commaiid  is  so  ingrained,  that  a 
chango  was  likely  to  take  timo.     Dumooraey  is  human.",  as  its 
criminal  oodo  proves;   lor  no  oni;  would  set  down  the  Krenoh 
Jit'ign  of  Terror  as  democratic.     Its  luimanity  is  connected 
with  its  cpiality,  which  makes  a,ll  lives  of  tlu!  same  valius  and 
forhids  tlie  common  people  to  |„.  treated  as  food  for  powder. 
With  a  military  despot  like  Napoleon,  or  a  high  and  cold  aris- 
tocracy, tho  slaugiiter  of  peasants  goes  for  nothing.      For  the 
same  reason  democratic  wars  are  expensive,  pojmlar  sentimenL 
requiring  that  good  [)rovision  shall  he  madts  not  only  for  the 
general  hut  for  all  alike.     Tho  American  War  of  Secession 
was  enormously  expensive  to  tho  demo(u-atic  North,  which 
supplied  its  armies  lavishly,  gave  large  bounties  for  enlist- 
ment, and  is  now  paying  in  pensions  an  annual  sum  equal  to 
the  total  cost  of  a  great  10uroi)ean  army.     The  slave-owning 
aristocracy  of  the  South  could  raise  its  forces  by  sheer  con- 
scription, and  force  them  to  fight  without  pay  and  sometimes 
without  food. 

Of  the  old  causes  of  war,  some  may  be  said  to  have  died  out 
so  far  as  the  civilisinl  world  is  concerned.  No  civilised  gov- 
ernment would  now  set  out,  like  Sennacherib  or  Xerxes,  on  an 
unprovoked  career  of  territorial  conquest.  No  civilised  gov- 
ernment, or  governnuMit  pretending  to  be  civilised,  except 
perhaps  that  of  a  Bonaparte,  would  even  commit  such  terri- 
torial aggression  as  was  committed  by  Louis  XIV.  Frederick 
the  Great  set  up  a  legal  claim,  at  all  events,  to  Silesia.  The 
last  great  excei)tion  to  this  improvement  of  sentiment,  a 
tremend(ms  excei)tion  certainly,  were  the  conquests  of  Napo- 
leon, especially  his  piratical  invasion  of  Spain.  Napoleon  was 
not  a  child  of  moral  civilisation;  Jie  ras  a  child  of  Corsican 
brigandage  and  barbarism,  who""sV' military  genius,  called  into 
play  by  the  Avars  of  the  Eevolution,  made  him  for  a  time 
almost  master  of  the  civilised  world.  His  influence  did  not 
end  with  his  fall.  He  had  evoked  a  spirit  of  militarism 
which,  like  liis  ascendancy,  may  be  regarded  as  an  accident  of 
history  and  destined  to  pass  away.     Russia,  among  other 


TiiK  KMi'im;, 


IM 


of  a  war  of  d,.er  ,.om„,.,t.     But  !„.,■  a iti„„  ,,„il  • 

of  t,.  forty  y„a,V  „„a,.o.  (,f  t,,o  ,,.,i(.i„,„  „„,  ,vhio  ,  '! 
to  M,,,,,.  ,n  tl,o  .,ixto,.„tl,  and  .ov^cntoontl,  oo,  i»  :„ 
«li.Ul   hoar  „„  ,„„,„.     i,,,iti,   i,  „„,,  t„„  " 

oag...s  as  won  an  for  ovu.uU..     ,iy  u,n  mid.llo  o      ho   'evt 
oenth  ocn  u,y  tho  oonfliot  ha.l  lost  „.„..h  of  its  ,vliZs  oh  "■ 
a^ter  a,„,  booome  poliiioal  „,■  torritonal.     r,-oso„trw         . 
to  Popo  „„,.,olf,  as  an  Italian  I'rinoo,  on  tho  sau.o^sil  w     , 
1  rotostant  1  owors.     Dynastio  wars  n.ay  also  bo  consi taJus 
nnn.borc,i  with  tho  past;  so  n.ay  tho  oonnncroial  wars  w  i,' 
mvod  tl^.r  or„M„  to  tho  monopolist  tallaoios  of    iZh,     ™ 
tnry.     On  thootltor  hand,  wo  have  rooontly  ha,l  war  of  ntio,'" 
.ev.val  an,l  rooonstruotion ;  tho  war  botwoon  Anstda  -T^  "o 
".any,  whioh  atton.Io,!  tho  restoration  of  Genu    nn^v    n  I 
ho  ™r  ,,etwoen   Germany  an..  Franoo,  wlh    '  t       K,; 
jealousy  of  the  restored  unity  of  Gorn.any  onbviled      U^  ore 

nlhe'Tur:'';";?  '™""°  "'  ""■'  "'■"'  ">  "-  Austrt  -En  p 

'■»  Turkish  Empu'e,  and  possibly  in  Soan,linavia,  in  I>oh ml 
and  tho  Baltro  Provinoes  of  Kassia.     The  thirst  of  Franoe   « 

01  levenge.     Tho  break-up  of  the  Turkish  Empire  and  n. 
amble  for  its  spoils  are  always  in  prospoet.     A  low'e   of 

waste  plaoes  of  the  earth,  as  Europe  becomes  overorowded  and 

ur^rofl'f  v"'r.'-'- '''''™'"  ■■""«--  -™i.°H  rlr 

o  hlrevoZi      '  :*';  ''"'°''  "  ^^™"  "<"  ""possible  that 

soc  al  revolution  may  take  its  plaoe.     The  wars  to  wh.Vl, 

civil  lather  than  mtornational.     But  it  is  eonceivablo  that 

o 


i   '  * 


VM 


QUKSTIONS   OF    I'llK    DAY. 


u 


■t 


;.  i 


somo  militiuy  power  born  of  socual  rovolution,  like  the  Spanish 
Intniiisiovntos  or  tlio  Kroiicli  Communists,  may  j^ot  I'.old  of  a 
i^'ovtM-nnuMit  and  imitate  tho  c.vusadiiiij:  fury  of  the  Ja,(K)bins. 
Nor,  wliilc  we  scan  the  liovizoj.  of  the  civilised  world,  ouglit  it 
to  be  forgotten  that  tlier<>  is  a  world  outside,  of  whieli  China 
is  the  "greatest  ]H)wer,  still  uncivilised,  which  may  give  birth 
to  military  force,  and  arm  its(df  with  the  weapons  of  civilisa- 
tion. This  would  be  a  suflieient  reason  against  universal 
disjirmanuMit,  such  as  the  I'eaee  Society  preaches,  even  if  we 
could  dispense  with  the  s'ddier  as  an  upholder  of  order  and  an 
example  of  discipline  amidst  a  -general  dissolution  of  authcM-ity. 

The  enornu)us  armaments  which  the  I'^urojiean  Towers  now 
have  on  foot  appear  to  make  war  at  some  time  certain,  since  it 
would  seem  that  the  tension  must  at  last  become  insufferable, 
and  that  somebody  nuist  broak.  On  the  other  hand,  the  very 
apjirehension  of  conflict  with  forces  so  vast  and  engines  of  war 
so  destructive  acts  as  a  strong  deterrent,  and  nuiy  prevail  over 
international  hatred  and  other  incentives  to  Avar  till  tinaiK^ial 
deficit  enforces  reduction.  The  change  in  the  mode  of  warfare 
from  end)attled  hosts  to  long-range  proj(Mitiles,  and  from  fleets 
such  as  fought  at  Trafalgar  to  turrets  and  rams,  is  probably  in 
favour  t)f  i)ea,ce;  not  only  because  it  makes  war  more  dreadful 
by  increasing  its  destruetiveness  (which  indeed  may  be 
doubted),  but  because  by  taking  away  the  pride,  pomp,  and 
cifiHunstanco  of  the  battlefleld,  it  robs  war  and  the  soldier's 
trade  of  much  of  their  hold  upon  the  imagination.  AV^aterloo 
or  Trafalgar  must  have  been  a  sui)er1)  and  enthralling  sight. 
Cannai  and  Actium  nmst  have  been  still  more  so.  ]>ut  Sedan, 
as  painted  by  Zola,  has  nothing  in  it  superb  or  enthralling. 
It  is  a  prosaic  scene  of  scientiflc  butchery.  As  to  the  "  })lumed 
troop"  (d'  Life  Guards,  it  is  now  of  no  more  use  than  the 
l>eefeaters,  and  is  lu-obably  maintained  upon  the  sanu^  grounds. 

By  the  introduction  of  the  new  and  long-range  weapons 
advantage  has  apparently  been  given  to  the  defence  over  the 
attack.  This  is  in  favour  of  the  invaded,  and  against  the 
invader.  It  does  not  seem,  however,  that  the  change  of 
weapons  has  diminished  the  ascendancy  of  discipline,  fighting 


THE   EMPIKK. 


lUG 


f      '»: 


theroforo,  not  likely  to  b.  f„lm  ed      St  1         "^^  ""r"'  ''' 
excited  i„  ..evolutioit.  ,y  .^^t  '""  "  '""  ""l"^ 

nut'":'  .I:!';:;: '""  r  r'""  """'"y*"  -"  -"■  - 

Yet  apparently  tliere  u^  st  n      n  >    T    ?''  "*  ^'^  advocates, 
lute  -imbitin,,  i    7  "*^'  ^°  '*^'  operation.     Reso- 

lute ambition  or  herce  passion  would  hardly  yield  to  it      v! 
oan  It  be  expected  that  the  stro,,.^  will  alw^v.  V  ., 

How  (.,w      I        '''  ■"'""'  ""  "  '"^'''l  ^""'  tl'e  weuk. 
now  Ureat  liritani  would  now  f.„.o  ..  i  . 

to  co,„bi„o°     ,  itv  o  ■';•■  "'"'"'""^  ^"''  "">">  "''»  «™k 

-.licalis.,   ;'       i      -S'.b':r"""'  '"'T'  -*'-«="'»'- 
liritai„wasbor,rbytl,lHn  n        ■;■ "™'  '""'  ^''^"'^"'"'  «'«'' 

t"e'i:::r''r?';r:tf':,- -'--"™^^^^^^ 

..c,„oe..„y  Which,  in  Lth.i  a,:';::r:;:ft «:  r """ " 

upon  the  first  reverse-  tlu.  n  f       ^'' "^'^^^  ^^'^  (xovernment 

-i^tiL  wheV  I ':  ;:x^      -f  "-a-  tax.: 

-fety,  that  the  whole  b,u*  1    ,     Z  "''  '"'*""*' 

^"ul  «uoce.s.ion  duty  paid  by I'an  L  '"X  -.'„  ■"™7  '^^ 

to  carry  it  on,  a  Uonian  Senate.  ''  "'J""'''''' 


■i.*dawr^ 


,11:. 


I 


I.:m 


I  ir 


m '. 


■ 

* 

i;^T 


^1    i     i 

'[^■\^' 

|L  L|    "■    ^ 

i.i. . 

Ii 

ji''   ./ 

1 

\'t\\\ 

WOMAN  SUFFRAGE. 


'  a 


i  i 


i  ffl 


I         ! 


1 


i'^ 


i 


/) 


i          I 

ll 

f!'" 

!■[ . 

II. 


ir  ;■ 


■•I 


WOMAN   SUFFRAGE. 

It  is  not  necessary,  in  entering  upon  this  question,  to  dilate 
on  its  sentimental  side.  Nothing  can  add  force  or  tenderness 
to  the  names  of  wife  and  liome.  Suffice  it  to  say,  that  man 
cannot  withhold  from  woman  any  tiling  that  is  good  for  her,  or 
give  her  anything  that  is  bad  for  her,  Avithout  injuring  himself 
and  their  children  in  the  same  measure. 

Shall  man  make  over  to  woman  half  of  the  sovereign  power 
which  has  hitherto  been  his,  and  which,  if  he  chooses,  lie  can 
keep?     This  is  the  question  broadly  stated.     Woman,  in  mak- 
ing the  demand,  shows  confidence  in  man's  affection.     The  rule 
by  which  the  question  is  to  be  settled  is  the  joint  interest 
which  the  two  sexes  have  in  good  government,  not  any  abstract 
claim  of  right.     For  an  abstract  claim  of  right  there  appears 
to  be  no  foundation.     J*ower  which  is  natural  carries  with  it 
right,  while    it   is    subject   to   the    restraints   of   conscience. 
Weakness  cannot  be  said  to  have  a  right  to  artificial  power,  / 
though  the  concession  of  such  power  within  reasonable  limits 
may  be  not  only  kind  but  wise,  just,  and  beneficial  to  humanity 
and  civilisation.     Tliat  to  which  every  member   of  a  com- 
munity, whether  man,  woman,  or  child,  Avhether  white  or  black, 
whetlier  above  or  below  the  age  of  twenty-one,  has  a  right,  is 
the  largest  attainable  measure  of  good  government.     If  this 
or   any  other  political  change  would  be  conducive  to  good 
government,  the  whole  community  has  a  riglit  to  it;  if  it  would 
not,  the  whole  community,  including  the  women,  or  those, 
whoever  they  may  be,  whom   it  is  proposed  to  enfranchise, 
have   a  right  to  a   refusal  of   the  change.     The  number  of 
women  wlio  spontaneously  souglit  tlie  change  appears  to  have 
been  small.    Great  efforts  and  veliement  appeals  on  the  jmrt  of 

109 


'I.    '      ! 

.  *'} 

!  ^         ' 

200 


QUESTIONS  OF  THE   DAY. 


li 


I 


the  ladies  with  whom  the  movement  originated  were  required 
to  set  any  (ionsiderabk;  part  of  tlie  sex  in  motion.  This  is 
im])ortant  as  an  indication  both  of  tlie  al)sence  of  any  great 
grit'vaneu  and  of  tlie  unbiassed  judgnuuit  of  the  sex  with  regard 
to  its  own  interests.  Hut  were  the  demand  more  spontaneous 
and  general  it  would  still  be  ineund)ent  on  the  present  holders 
of  power  before  abdicating  to  consider  whether  in  the  common 
interest  their  abdication  was  to  be  desired. 

As  to  the  ecpiality  oi.  tlie  sexes,  no  question  is  raised;  they 
^'  may  be  jjcrfec^tly  e(iual  though  their  spheres  are  different,  that 
of  the  man  being  public  life,  that  of  the  woman  the  liome. 
Nor  is  there  any  occasion  for  pitting  nude  or  female  gifts  oi^ 
qualities  against  each  other.  Supposing  woman  even  to  be 
superior,  it  does  not  follow  that  the  field  of  her  superiority  is 
public  life. 

That  the  tendency  of  civilisation  has  been  to  elevate  woman 
is  true.  IJut  elevation  is  a  different  thing  from  assimilation 
to  num.  We  are  told,  not  so  much  by  women,  perha])S,  as  by 
their  champions,  that  the  time  for  protection  and  chivalry  has 
past  aud  the  time  for  justice  has  come.  But  it  is  not  made 
evident  that  the  bare  justice,  which  regulates  the  relation 
between  man  and  man,  would  suit  the  relation  between  man 
and  woman,  or  that  chivalry  and  protection  on  the  one  side, 
with  the  corresponding  recognition  of  them  on  the  other,  do 
not  in  this  case  constitute  justice. 

The  wonuin  suffrage  nu^vement  is  a  part  of  a  general 
attemjit  to  change  the  relations  between  the  sexes,  to  set 
woman  free  from  what  hitherto  have  been  considered  the  limi- 
tations of  her  sex,  and  make  her  the  competitor  instead  of  the 
helpmate  of  man.^  Women  are  forcing  their  way  into  the  male 
professions,  including  that  of  law,  into  the  dissecting-room,  in 
company  with  the  nuile  students,  into  male  places  of  educa- 
tion, and  into  the  smoking-room.  Some  of  them  have  lately 
taken  to  riding  astride.  From  England  we  hear  that  ladies 
have  been  undergoing  military  drill;  from  New  York  that  they 

1  See  Mrs.  K.  f.ynn  Linton  on  women  as  social  insurgents  in  the 
iVm('f(Y'H^//  rVH^(C(/ of  October.  1891. 


WOMAN   SUFFIJAdK. 


201 


ints  in  the 


have  been  emulating  the  training  of  male  athletes  and  the 
hoi-senum.slui)  of  the  st(H'i,leehas(H-.  We  are  reminded  of  tlie 
Koinan  ladies  under  the  Empire  who  when  other  excitement 
had  been  exhausted  took  to  that  of  the  gladiatorial  school 

The  old  foundations  of  authority  a.-e  shaken  by  the  collapse 
of  beliefs  on  which  social  order  as  well  as  personal  morality 
has  hitherto  rested,  and  by  the  political  disturbance  attendin-r 
the  advent  of  democraciy.  JVVe  ;U'e  in  the  ferment  of  a  revohr- 
tionary  age,  and  of  that  ferment  the  Kevolt  of  Woman,  as  one 
of  the  leaders  of  the  mov(>ment  called  it,  is  a  part. 

Among  the  features  of  a  revolutionary  era  is  the  prevalence 
of  a  feeble  facility  of  abdication.     The  holders  of  power,  how- 
ever natural  and  legitimate,  arc  too  ready  to  resign  it  on  the 
Hrst  demand.     They  do  not  take  time  to  consider  whether  their 
power  IS  rightful  or  not,  whether  it  has  or  has  not  on  the 
whole  been  used  for  good,  whether,  if  in  any  case  it  has  not 
been  used  for  good,  they  cannot  amend  their  course,  or  whether 
it  IS  likely  to  be  better  employed  by  those  to  whom  they  are 
called  upon  to  transfer  it.     The  nerves  of  authority  are  shaken 
by  the  failure  of  conviction.     It  is  an  inherent  consequence 
of  the  demagogic  system  that  every  demand  for  the  suffra-^e 
reasonable  or  unreasonable,  should  prevail  as  soon  as  it  shows 
strength,  because  the  politician  is  afraid  by  opposition  to  make 
an  enemy  of  the  coming  vote. 

It  is  evident  that  sexual  revolution  must  have  its  limita- 
tions if  the  human  race  is  to  continue.     There  are  some  land- 
marks of  nature  which  cannot  be  removed,  and  the  females  of 
every  species  must  be  the  organs  of  its  perpetuation.     Women 
must  bear  ami  nurse  children;  and  if  they  do  this,  it  is  impos- 
sible that  they  should  compete  with  men  in  occupations  whicli 
demand   complete   devotion  as   well  as  superior  strength  of 
muscle  or  brain.     There  appears  to  be  a  tendency  among  the 
eaders  of  the  Revolt  of  Woman  to  disparage  matrimony  as  a 
bondage,  and  the  rearing  of  children  as  an  aim  too  low  for  an 
mte  lectual  being.     Such  ideas  are  not  likely  to  spread  widely, 
or  tliey  would  threaten  the  life  of  the  race.     They  prevail 
ehietiy  in  the  highly  educated  and  sentimental  classes,  not  in 


U  V 


202 


QUESTIONS   OF   TIIK   DAY. 


u 


ft 


i'< 


'> 


3  :- 


t^ 


the  liomes  of  labour.  Nature,  it  may  be  said,  will  look  to  this 
and  in  tlu;  end  vindicate  lier  own  law.  No  doubt  she  will,  yet 
the  revolt  against  her  may  cost  us  dear. 

If  it  is  a  question  of  right,  children  have  their  rights  as  well 
as  women.  Tliey  have  not  less  right  to  motherly  care  than 
they  and  their  mother  have  to  being  fed  by  the  husband's 
labour. 

At  present  the  demand  in  England  is  only  for  tlic  enfran- 
chisement of  spinsters  and  widows,      lint  this  limitation,  while 
It  betrays  a  consciousness  tliat  tlww  would  be  danger  to  the 
family    in   the    full    measure,   is   understood  to  be    nu-rely  a 
stroke  of  tactics.     Widow  and  sidnster  suffnige  is  the  thin 
edge  of  the  wedge.     From  the  politic-al  i)oint  of  view  there 
would  be  manifest  absurdity  and  wrong  in  making  marriage 
politically  penal,  and  extduding  from  tlie  franchise  the  very 
women  wlio  are  commonly  held  to  be  best  discharging  the 
duties   of  their  sex,  and  would  be   likely  to  be    its    fairest 
representatives.     Already  the  tlioroughgoing  section  of  the 
party  repudiates  the  limitation.     TJie  spinster  and  widow  vote 
would  be  an  irresistible  lever  whenever  ]jolitical  parties  were 
nearly  balanc^ed.     When  the  suffrage  had  been  conceded  to  all 
women,  as  the  women  slightly  imtnumber  the  men,  and  many 
of  the  men,  sailors,  for  example,  or  nu'u  em])loyed  on  railways, 
or  in  itinerant  callings,  could  not  go  to  the  poll,  the  woman's 
vote  would  preponderate,  and  govcu'nment,  if  it  was  in  unison 
with  the  votes,  would  be  more  female  than  male.     Nor  is  it 
tlie  leaders  and  chief  authors  of  the  movement  intendea  that 
we  should  stop  liere.     The  woman  of  the  political  platform 
does  not  limit  her  and)itiou  to  a  vote.     She  wants  to  sit  in 
Parliament  or  in  Congress.     Wlu-n  she  gains  lusr  first  point 
she  will  have  practically  established  her  claim  to  the  next; 
those  who  are  (pialitied  to  give  a  mandate,  she  will  say,  are 
qualified  to  bear  it;   those  who  are  qualified  t(^  decide  prin- 
ciples of  legislation  are  qualified  to  legislate;  those  who  are 
qualified  to  dictate  a  polii^y  are  qualified  to  (^arry  it  into  effect. 
In  New  Zealand,  having  gained  tlie  francliise,  she  has  already 
preferred  the  further  claim.     It  might  shock  our  prejudices  at 


I        I 


WOMAN   SUFFRAGE. 


203 


I     Ml 
II    ic 


•ok  to  this 
a  will,  yet 

its  as  well 
care  than 
husband's 

le  enfran- 
ion,  while 
fer  to  the 
merely  a 
the  thin 
iew  there 
marriage 
the  very 
rging  the 
ts    fairest 
)n  of  tlie 
idow  vote 
■ties  were 
ded  to  all 
uul  many 
railways, 
woman's 
in  unison 
>i'  is  it 
[idea  that 
platform 
to  sit  in 
rst  ])oint 
;he  next; 
say,  are 
ide  })rin- 
!  who  are 
to  effect. 
s  already 
udices  at 


Hrst  to  see  a  woman  taking  part  in  a  Parliamentary  debate, 
rt  shocks  our  prejudices  at  Hrst  to  see  her  taking  part  in  a 
fa(^tion  lighi,  mounting  the  i.ul[)it,  or  thundering  from  a  plat- 
forni,  as  well  as  to  see  her  in  lialf  mah^  attire,  or  riding  in 
man's  fashion.     I<:stal)lishe(l  sentimfuit  and  old  ideas  of  deli- 
cacy have  b..,.u  already  set  asi.le.     The  IVmale  aspirant  to  a 
seat  in  Parliament  or  Congress,  and  to  a  place  in  the  Cabinet, 
will   have,   therefore,   little  dillieulty   in   proving  her   claim. 
She  will  have  no  dillieulty  w]i;itev(>r  in  enforcing  it.     That 
the  woman's    vote  will    do    for    her.      A  tenth  part   of   the 
woman's  vot(^  might  do  it  for  her  if  the  parties  were  nearly 
balanced  and  the  ])oliti('iaiis  were  alarmed.     Politics  under  the 
party  system  are  a  demagogic  auction,  and  an  inevitalde  slide 
down  hill.     In  the  United  States,  where  all  qualifications  for 
the  suffrage  other  than  that  of  simide  citizenship  have  been 
abolished  or  practically  null  i tied,  female  suffrage,  like  male 
suffrage,  would  no  doubt  be  miiversal.     That  the  change  thus 
presents  itself  ;it  once  in  its  full  extent  may  partly  account  for 
the  general  conservatism  of  the  American  people  on  this  sub- 
ject.    l?ut  there  is  also  the  safeguard  of  the  special  process 
which  is  required  in  the  States  as  Avell  as  in  the  Federation 
for  amendments  of  the  Constitution,  and  which  enforces  the 
submission  of  the  question  to  a  constituency  beyond  the  range 
of  the  arts  and  intiuences  to  which  individual  legislators  are 
apt  to  yield. 

Political  power  has  hitherto  been  exercised  by  the  male  sex; 
not  because  man  has  been  a  tyrannical  usurper  and  has  brutally 
thrust  his  weaker  partner  out  of  her  rights,  but  in  the  course 
of  nature,  because  man  alone  could  uphold  government  and 
enforce  the  law.  Let  the  edifice  of  law  be  as  moral  and  as  intel- 
lectual as  you  will,  its  foundation  is  the  force  of  the  com-"^ 
munity,  and  the  force  of  the  community  is  male.  Women 
have  not  yet  thought  of  claiming  the  employment  of  policemen, 
nor  of  petitioning  that  they  may  be  bound  to  answer  to  the 
call  of  the  sheriff  when  he  summons  the  citizens  to  put  down 
disorder.  This  fundamental  fact  that  law  rests  on  public  force 
may  b(>  hidden  from  sight  for  the  moment  by  the  clouds  of 


204 


<ilKST10NS   OF    rilK    DAY. 


I 


■I 


r^ji 


ri 


u 


^ 


emotioiKil  rliotorii^,  Imt  it  will  assert  itself  in  the  end.  Laws 
])asse(l  by  tiu;  woman's  vote  will  not  b(!  i'clt  to  have  force  behind 
tlicm.  Women  are  the  great  pi-ohibitionists,  having  only  too 
strong  itulncements,  many  of  tliem,  to  support  any  snpposed 
a,nti(lot(!  to  (Irnnkenness,  and  not  seeing  that  the  taste  of  a 
man  engaged  in  heavy  labonr  and  exposed  to  tiie  weather  for 
the  stimnlus  of  win(^  or  l)eer  may  be  as  natnral  as  the  taste  of 
his  home-keeping  partner  for  the  stimulus  of  tea.  With 
.  woman  suffrage  we  should  have  Prohibition,  rroiiibitionists 
advocate  woman  suffrage  on  that  acconnt.  IJehind  proliil)ition 
of  strong  drinks  begins  to  loom  prohibition  of  tobaeeo.  We 
have  had  pr()[)osals  from  women  to  extend  cajjital  pnnishment 
to  cases  of  outrage  on  their  sex.  Would  the  stronger  sex  obey 
sueli  laws  when  it  was  known  that  they  were  enacted  by  the 
weaker?  Would  it  obey  any  laws  manif(!stly  carried  by  the 
female  vote  in  the  interest  of  the  women  against  that  of 
the  men?  If  it  would  not,  the  result  would  be  contempt  for 
the  law  and  anarcliy,  which  would  not  be  likely  to  enure 
to  the  adviiutage  of  the  Aveak.  Man  would  be  tempted  to  resist 
woman's  government  when  it  galled  him,  not  only  by  the  con- 
sciousness of  his  strength,  but  by  his  pride,  which  would  make 
itself  heard  in  the  end,  though  its  voice  for  a  time  might  be 
stifled  by  sentinuMital  declamation.  "In  muscle,"  says  the 
Ileport  of  Mr.  Ulair's  ('ommittce  of  tlie  United  States  Senate 
in  1(SS9,  "woman  is  inferior  to  man.     I'ut  nuiscle  has  nothing 


to   do  witli   legislation  or 


government. 


In    intellect  she  is 


man's  equal,  in  character  s!ie  is,  by  his  own  admission,  his 
superior  and  constitutes  the  angcdic  portion  of  humanity." 
We  have  seen  reason  for  thinking  that  muscle  has  something 
to  do,  if  not  with  the  acts  of  legislatures  or  governments,  with 
that  which  gives  tliose  acts  tlieir  force.  ^Fr.  IJlair  might  have 
felt  til  is  if,  at  the  time  of  the  strike,  he  had  been  at  Chicago. 
In  Daliomey  tliere  are  female  warriors.  There  may  have 
l/V  been  Amazons  in  primitive  times.  But  in  the  civilised  world 
the  duty  of  defending  the  country  in  Avar  falls  on  the  male  sex 
alone,  and  it  would  seem  that  there  ought  to  be  some  connection 
between  that  duty  and  political  power.     To  this  it  is  answered 


ll 


ll     ii: 


nd.  Laws 
rce  bohiiul 
ig  only  too 
'  supposed 
taste  of  a 
^oather  for 
lie  tasto  of 
pa.  With 
ibitionists 
iroliil)iti()U 
i(!Co.  We 
iinislimont 
r  sex  obey 
ed  l)y  tlio 
ed  by  tlie 
t  tliat  of 
1  to  nipt  for 

to  cinire 
d  to  resist 
y  the  con- 
ould  make 
!  miglit  be 

says  the 
fces  Senate 
IS  nothing 
3ct  she  is 
ssion,  his 
iimanity." 
something 
ents,  with 
liglit  have 
Chicago, 
may  have 
sed  worhl 
!  male  sex 
onnection 
answered 


WOMAN    sri'KUAOK.  2O6 

that  not  all  men  perform  the  duty,  and  that  uom.'u  as  w<dl  a.s 
men  contribute  as  taxpayers  to  the  suppoi '    of  tht*  army      In 
some  countries,  as  in  (iermany,  all  m.-n  ,.f  military  age  are 
and  in  every  eountry   th(.y  ought  to    br,  liable  to  military 
serviee.     But  everywhere  tin.  responsibility  rests  on  the  men 
who  would  hav..  to  M.eet  the  necessity  if  it  arose.     That  some 
men  are  oM  or  disqualiliedbn- arms  sigMiti.-s  nothing;  political 
ruk's  must  be  giuKU-al  ami  .lisregard  ex,;,.ptions.     The  wom.-n 
it  is  said,  or  such  of  tluuu  as  have  jn-operty  of  their  own,  eon- 
tribute  to  tiie  niilitaiy  ."xpenses.      Ihit  so  do  the  men,  in  a.ldi- 
tion  to  the  male  duty  of  personal  service.     Xor  is  the  i.lea  that 
they  sen.l  tlunr  husbands  and  sons  much  to  the  purpose  when 
the  question  is  as  to  their  own  qualifications  for  serving  in  war 
At  the  sam.^  time  it  would  be  a,  mistal<,t  to  thiidi  that  ieniale 
rulers  have  been  averse  from  war,  and  that  if  the  power  were 
in  female  hands  war  would  be  no  more.     ^Vo,„cn  are  apt  to  bo  i 
warlike  becaus..  their  responsibility  is  Ic  ,s.      lu  the  Southern 
States  at  the  time  of  Secession  no  partisans  of  the  war  Avere 
hercer  than  the  women.      Few  male  rtih-rs  have  been  more 
bellicose  than  Catherine  of  Russia,,  Elizal,eth  (.),ieen  of  Spain 
(the  lermagant,  as  she  was  (valled),  Maria  Theresa  of  Austria 
Madame  do  Pompadour,  and  tlio  I<]mpress  JCugeiiie.     Xor  is  it 
unlikely  that  female  sentiment  might  bo  in  favour  of  some  war 
when  male  sentiment  or   prudence  was  against    it.     French 
women  might  have  voted  for  a  crusade  in  aid  of  the  Pone 
English  women  miglit  have  voted  for  armed  intervention  in 
favour  of  the  Queen  of  Nai.les,  whose  heroism  touched  their 
imaginations  at  tlie  time.     AVould  the  men  obey'/     AVould  they 
shoulder  their  muskets  and  march  or  bid  tlie  army  march^ 
ihey  would  not;  and  here  again  law  and  government  would 
break  down. 

Besides,  the  transfer  of  power  from  the  military  to  the 
unmilitary  sex  involves  a  <'hang.>  in  the  character  of  a  nation  ■ 
it  involves,  in  short,  national  emasculation.  What  would  be 
the  fate  of  a  community  in  some  dire  extremity  if  it  were 
largely  ruled  by  its  women?  Philanthropy,  theosophy,  and 
Utopianisin    have  not   yet   triumphed.      This    is  the  a^e  of 


(' 


8M 


(ilKSTlONS   OK    I'lIK    DAV. 


Ill 


Bisiiiiirck,  of  the  Fr.'mco-T'nissiaii  Wiir,  of  the  War  of  Sorps- 
Mion.  How  would  tlic  NoiMi  liavt;  liircd  in  its  coiitlict  with  tlio 
South  if,  at  each  turn  of  thd  wavering'  and  d('S|u'ratt'  stnij,'^d»', 
it  had  Ix'on  Hwayod  hy  th»'  tunotions  of  its  wonii-n';'  One  of 
tho  hidii'H  whosc^  ovi(h'n(i(!  was  taken  lud'om  Mr.  lUair's  (.'oin- 
mittpc,  admitted  that,  in  tho  days  of  fonu',  when  women  needed 
the  protection  of  man,  male  government  may  have  been  justi- 
fiahh';  hut  these,  she  said,  were  i»ii)inj,' tinu'S  of  peace.      IMpiiij^ 


time 


s  ol  i»eaee,  wlien  Ameri(!a  is  pay  mi;  tlie  pension 


th 


list 


ol  an 


enormous  war  and  l*'.iirope  has  millions  of  men  in  arms! 
Woman  does  not  in  civilised  (!ountri(!S  lu-ed  the  protection  of 
the  individual  man  excu'jjt  as  i)olic(uiiaii  or  es(!ort.  liiit  slio 
does  need,  or  may  at  any  time  need,  the  armed  protection  of 
the  male  sex  as  a  whole. 

We  have  had  successive  extensions  of  that  which  is  called 
liberty,  but  ought,  if  AVe  would  think  clearly,  to  bc^  calh^l 
political  i)ower;  for  a  man  may  havi^  liberty  Avithout  a  vote 
and  a  vote  without  lib(>rty.  I*ut  hitluM'to  the  changes,  though 
some  of  them  havi^  been  blind  and  dangerous  enough,  have 
imperilled  only  the  State.  The  change  now  pro[)osed  vitally 
ati'ects  tlu^  family,  which,  until  the  Sotiialists  have  their  way, 
will  be  of  fully  as  much  (ionsecpieuce  to  us  as  tlu!  State.  The 
family  is  in  fai^t  the  grand  issue.  The  solidarity  of  the  family 
it  is  which  the  various  movements  for  what  is  (!alled  the 
emancipation  of  women  tend  collectively  to  subvert.  It  is 
easy  to  draw  ideal  pictures  of  husband  and  wife  agreeing  to 
differ  on  political  questions,  going  at  elections  to  opposite 
committee-rooms,  perhaps  speaking  oil  opposite  jjlatforms, 
voting  on  opposite  sides,  and  then  returning  to  a  blissful 
heartli,  Avith  harmony  and  aifection  unimpaired.  This  ideal 
might  be  realised  in  the  case  of  such  a  couple  as  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
John  Stuart  iMill.  Jiut  Avhat  are  the  effects  of  a  faction  tight 
on  the  tempers  of  ordinary  mortals?  In  America  at  the  time 
of  the  (Uvil  AVar  Avould  unbroken  harmony  have  prevailed 
between  a  Unionist  husband  and  a  Secessionist  Avife?  Would 
unbroken  harmony  prevail  bctAveen  a  Unionist  luisband  and  a 
(Jladstonian  Avife  at  the  present  day? 


WOMAN  .sr:i.|.riA(i|,;.  ^^ 

Itithnrt,,  H,„  h„,il,v  I,,-,,,  !„.,.„  ,1  „„it  ,.„„,.„„ont,,.,l  in  M,n  Sf.t 

»u.lly  ,,,,,,,,,,,,„.,,.     A  d„u„.„  wl,i,0,  tl„.,„™  tl,    m      ;    ; 

W,  .„.W,„„  tl„„k  m  dUmMy  as  wo  ou;;l,(.  I„„.  b,-„,.  a  ,„  „ 
-.1  l.am..m..Hs  a,  w,.M  n.s  of  ..xc„II»,„.  ,l..,,„,„ls  , ,"  ,  '.m  .'   '  , 

l:;;:"r  ;■  ';i:r',  "^-^  't  r-""  '"■ ''"^  ™-v  '''"^ » ^- 

tiKMiK  It  It  tliat  l„»  wilo  »l„mM  hav,,  tl,„  vote  i,„toa.l  of 
l'.".*l(,  »he  ,ni«i,t  havo  it,  |,„t  tl.at  h„  |n.,,to.,tn,Tai  1  „  I 
l.mposal  to  sivo  tl,e  fan.ily  ,„o,-o  tl,a, „  vote  '' 

hi  I'l'old'o'f  f,'-'  """■"  T""'""'"'^  '"""'  ''  '"  '''""■■  ""'t  P-rty  l.a» 

m  v1  F,  '"V",.'""'!""'  '='"^''  l«'rty'  "^  »  «««tio„  of  ,.acl. 
luity  „i  lM.KlaT.,1,  la,„:i,,s  that  it  woald  j;ai„  |,v  thfi  H,-,,  1 

So,ao  <;„„so,.vativ<.  I,„,i„.„  ,„t  t,„  „,,„.;™  7^,^^  «  «3 
.M^vatu.,,  an,,  that  sho  ucU.l  voto  under  the  i  ™,enoe  of 
t^a.I,t,„nal  ,o„tnn,.„t,  perhaps  ako  nnder  that  of  ho  p  est 
11^  lato  leadov  of  the  Oonservativos  in  Ensh.n.I  was  ,  av„  ; 
of  en  ,,„,ch,,s,n,,  the  won.en,  as  he  was  in  favon,-  of  enf.aS 
ng  the  pmh.tanat,  with  the  sa.ne  e.xpeetation  of  vote.  But 
tonservat,ves  who  ph,y  this  gan>e  shoahl  re.uemhe.  Hnt  t^ 

to  stay  at  home,  while  the  i-adieal  wo.uan  is  pretty  sure  to  ro 
forth  rejo,e,ng  to  the  fray.     Nor  wouhl  the  eleriell      flue3 

b^o.H.t  or,:;",-     ,'?™"^.^^*'>-"-  I'-'-vo-an  would 
Drought  to  the  poll  by  the  priest.     Assuredly  the  female  char- 
acter ,s  not  unsusceptible  of  revolutionary  violence      Fnice 

warning  to  be  on  their  guard.  ^ 

Previous  extensions  of  the  suffrage  have  been  to  an  unrepre- 


P 


208 


QUKSriONS  OF   'I'llK    DAY. 


fmi 


1 1. . 


sented  class,  and  ;i  cluss  wliicli  might  plead  tliat  its  special 
interest  would  suffer  by  \v;uit  of  re[)reseiitati()u,  though  pos- 
sibly in  Honw  eases  tliose  interests  were  liktdy  to  suffer  as  nuich 
by  the  iuHuenee  oi'  (Mifraiuihised  iguorauee  on  goverunient  as 
by  any  class  bias,  liut  women  are  not  a  class,  they  are  a  sex. 
Their  class  interests  throughout  the  scale  are  identical  with 
those  of  the  man,  and  are  effectually  re])resented  by  the  male 
vote.  It  would  jirobably  be  impossible  to  devise  a  case  in 
which  a  legislature  dealing  with  female  inten^sts  in  regard  to 
property,  taxation,  or  any  other  subject,  could  be  misled  by 
motives  of  class. 

If  property  held  by  wonuni  is  taxed  without  being  repre- 
sented, so  is  that  held  by  men,  in  the  United  States  absolutely, 
and  in  England,  saving  only  the  triHiug  amount  of  property 
still  required,  directly  or  indirectly,  as  a  qualification  for  the 
suffrage. 

Have  women  as  a  sex  any  wrongs  which  male  legislatures 
cannot  be  expected  to  redress,  so  that  in  order  to  obtain  justice 
it  is  necessary  that  there  shall  be  an  abdication  by  man  of  the 
sovereign  power?  If  there  are,  whether  in  England  or  the 
United  States,  let  them  be  named.  Named  hitherto  they  have 
not  been.  The  laAV  regarding  the  proi)erty  of  married  women 
has  been  so  far  reformed  in  the  interests  of  the  wife,  that, 
instead  of  being  unduly  fav^ourable  to  the  imsband,  it  seems 
rather  inspired  by  mistrust  of  him.  The  practice  is  still  more 
so.  It  has  become  the  custom  to  tie  up  a  woman's  property 
on  marriage  so  that  she  shall  not  be  able,  even  if  she  is  so 
inclined,  to  make  provision  for  her  husband,  in  case  he  sur- 
vives her,  in  old  age,  and  save  him  from  the  necessity  of 
receiving  alms  from  liis  own  children.  The  laAvyers  naturally 
are  active  in  the  work  which  nuiltiplies  legal  relations  and 
interests.  About  everything  has  been  done  which  civil  legis- 
lation could  do  to  impress  the  wife  with  the  belief  that  her 
interest  and  that  of  her  husband  are  not  only  separate  but 
adverse;  that  she  does  not  leave  her  father's  home  when  she  is 
married;  that  her  husband  is  not  one  flesh  with  her;  and  that 
all  her  relations  by  blood  are  nearer  to  her,  in  interest  at  all 


If 


its  special 
hough  pos- 
Fer  us  much 
ai'uuient  as 
'  are  a  snx. 
iitical  with 
•y  the  male 

a  case  in 
u  regard  to 

misled  by- 
sing  repre- 
absolutely, 
>!'  projierty 
ion  for  the 

egislatures 
bain  justice 
man  of  tlie 
iind  or  the 
3  they  have 
.'ied  women 
wife,  that, 
d,  it  seems 
3  still  more 
's  property 
f  she  is  so 
ise  he  sur- 
ecessity  of 
•s  naturally 
lations  and 
civil  legis- 
ef  that  her 
sparate  but 
ivhen  she  is 
r;  and  that 
erest  at  all 


WOMAN   SUFFRAGE.  ^09 

events,  than  the  man  on  whose  breast  she   lays  her  liead 
Matrnnomal    superstition    has    been    effectually' roLet 
enabhng  husband  and  wife  to  sue  each  other/  The  laws  Z 
Massachusetts  discrnninate  in  favour  of  women  by  exempting 
unmarned  women  of  small  estate  fron.  taxation ; '^,y  allmv    g 
women  and  not  men  to  acciuire  a  settleu.ent  witllout  ^ay'^g  a 
tax,    by   compelling  husbands   to   support   their  wives    but 
exempting  the   wife,   even   when   rich,    from   supporting    u 
indigent  hu.band;  by  making  men  liable  for  deb  s  of     l 
and  not  ..c.  versa.^     In  the  State  of  New  York  a  husblml 
cannot  disix)se  of  his  wife's  dower  in  his  lands  witlumt  h  ' 
consent,  but  the  wife  can,  without  her  husband's  consen    di  - 
pose  of  all  her  property;  a  husband  can  be  made  to  .lyL 
necessaries  supplied  to  a  wife,  a  wife  cannot  be  made  to  p" 
lor  necessaries  supplied  to  a  husband;   a  wife's  dower-rigU 
cannot  be  divested  by  a  will,  but  a  wife  can  will  away  al    he 
property  without  leaving  provision  for  her  husbandf  women 
are  privileged  in  cases  of  execution  for  debt;  women  arX 
tantial  y  exempt  from  arrest  in  all  civil  'cases;   wh  le    t 
actory  laws  and  other  laws  abound  in  exceptiona   protect  o^ 
for  women      Legal  reformers  are  able  to  boast  that 'they  have 
emancipated  woman  from  the  domination  of  her  luisband  '' 
They  must  not  forget  that   the   domination  carries       ^     it 

return.     Make  the  marriage  contract  too  onerous  to  the  man 

tioii.  If  he  does  he  is  the  stronger.  Nothing  can  alter  tint 
fae  or  its  practical  significance  in  the  long  run.  Of  hs  he 
leaders  of  the  lievolt  of  Woman  will  do  well  to  take  Lie 
That  the  administration  of  the  law  has  been  unfavourable 
women,  few  will  contend.  In  jury  eases,  at  least,  the  diffi! 
culty  IS  no  for  women  to  get  justice  against  men,  but  for  men 
to  get  justice  against  women.     It  is  doubtful  whether  the 

suffiagists  contend,  could  make  juries  more  partial  to  women 

IT  '  ^?/^"«'-^'^-V  ^'P^^'i  of  Mr.  Blair's  Committee  of  the  Senate  of  the 
United  States,  February,  1889,  p.  14.  *^® 


■I 


'  '   ua 


if; 


210 


QUESTIONS   OF   THE   DAY. 


/) 


Ifr 


i    I 


»'.' 


1 

j 

'    I 
1 

1 

than  tliey  are;  if  it  did,  the  faihii-e  of  justice  would  be  mon- 
strous indeed.  In  criminal  cases  mercy  has  been  shown  to  the 
woman.  "Since  I  liave  been  in  Parliament,"  said  John 
Bright,  "I  thiidc  1  could  specify  nearly  a  score  of  instances  in 
which  the  lives  of  women  would  be  spared  where  the  lives  of 
men  would  bo  taken."  Can  it  be  believetl  tliat  the  efforts 
which  have  been  made  to  save  Mrs.  Maybrick  from  punishment 
would  have  been  made  in  favour  of  a  husband  convicted  of  tlie 
murder  of  his  wife?  There  is  no  reason  for  this  partiality 
except  one  which  implies  a  radical  difference  between  the  sexes 
and  the  willingness  of  the  weaker  sex  to  accept  the  protection 
of  the  stronger.  Nor  will  the  privilege  long  survive  the  ground 
of  it;  women  cannot  have  both  equality  and  privilege. 

Does  the  grievance  consist  in  any  bar  to  the  competition  of 
women  with  men  in  the  professions  or  trades?     Such  bars  have 
by  male  legislation  been  largely  removed.     We  have  female 
doctors  of  medicine  everywhere,  and  if  their  practice  is  limited, 
it  is  because  women  themselves  in  the  graver  cases  seem  still 
to  put  more  confidence  in  men.     Women  are  being  admitted  to 
the  law.     To  their  addressing  themselves  to  the  feelings  of 
juries  there  seems  to  be  an  objection  apart  from  delicacy,  if 
justice  is  the  object  of  courts.     They  have  been  admitted  into 
male  universities,  we  shall  presently  see  with  what  effect  on 
the  masculine  character  of  the  system,  while,  in  spite  of  the 
principle  on  which  coeducation  is  based,  female  colleges  are 
not  yet  thrown  open  to  men.     They  have  got   the   school- 
teacherships  largely  into  their  hands;  with  doubtful  benefit, 
whatever  theorists  may  say,  to  the  characters  and  manners  of 
the  boys.     Government  clerkships  and  offices  of  all  kinds  are 
now  filled  with  women,  who  are  thus  made  independent  of 
marriage,  though  this  cannot  be  done  without  at  the  same  time 
withdrawing  employment  from  men  who  might  have  main- 
tained women  as  their  Avives.     It  is  complained  that  female 
workers  are  underpaid,  and  female  claimants  of  the  franchise 
say  that  if  they  had  power,  they  would  legislate  so  as  to  raise 
woman's  wages.     Legislation  of  this  kind  would  require  sup- 
plementary enactments  forbidding  employers  and  capital  to  go 


WOMAN  SUFFRAGE.  JH 

out  of  the  trade.     But  are  women  underoaid^     Av.  ^h 
ess  than  the  „e„  when  thei.  work  is  'jf^tl  v^ue,    Tt  Zt 

oLtt  rr,::xrr  't^t  ""^•"^'  *°  "-^^"^' 

only  the  lighter  trlde^ttlen  e':rr  aT,"  "'T'  "  '^ 
can  ha-dly  expect  to  he  V^ia  ZZ SlCtllToTZ: 

X  air.  :::r^„::- ji-i:  r  -^-^^ 

she  renounces  marriage  ^^^^  is  impossible  for  woman  unless 
artists,  si„,e..s,  rXsae^^ :rnn  ^ ^^^^^^^^^^^^^ 
of  prima  donnas  are  enormous:  tl,eir  exlcti™!  !  ? 

^^:^  ^*-  eompnn^tiorthTiSrl^rrLTrj 

«.eff^TadVirtt\::a=roTrtv::ir 

regard  to  infidelity.     The  law  onn  T.o.n  i  ^  "' 

up  and  IS  consenting  can  the  guilt  be  wholly  on  one  side 
lo  assume  that  the  guilt  is  wliolly  on  one  side  ^ndTh  T.t' 
woman,  however  frpplv  «lio  n^        f  ^  ^  *"^*  *^^e 

-;er  the  sa.J::^^^^^^^^^^^^^^  is  to 

oi  *of'!:e  :^T:t^£:^:i:^:rrr  "^  - 


H 


i  i 


f 


'-'I-'  Ql'KS'llONS    (U'    rilK    DAV. 

I'Mii  1)0  S('(Mir(«  wiMionI,  flic  suri'mLrr  would  he  t(t  s;i,y  that  no 
sfciiiMlv  for  life  or  properly  Ii;ih  existed  in  iiiosl,  of  \,]h>  coiiii- 
Irii's  of  I'liirope  till  within  the  last  hall'  ccntnTy,  nor  Tor  tho 
i^rcat  niaj(»ril_v  ol'  th(>  people  even  in  I'ai.^land.  'I'o  the  ()rdina,iy 
observer  it  apjtears  not  only  thai  th(^  lives,  lilierties,  a,n(l 
properties  of  Anieriean  won.en  are  secure,  hut  that  they  a.rc 
more  secure,  it  anythini;-,  than  those  of  the  men;  and  that  the 
aititude  of  men  in  the  I'nited  States  ti»ward  women  is  rat.her 
that  of  subjection  than  that  of  domination.  "Act.na!  and 
practical  slavery,"  which  one  of  the  ladies  wl 
«lc(dan>s  |,o  be  thi>  condition  id'  woman  without  the  ballot,  has 
certainly  in  the  cast>  ot  the  Ameri(^a,n  slave  dis.^niised  it.scdf  in 
very  deci>ptiv(>  forms.  "No  one,"  .says  another  lady,  "  iias 
denied  to  wonu-n  tiie  ri-ht  (d'  burial,  and  in  thai  one  .sad 
necessity  of  human  lil'(>  they  stand  on  an  eipial  t'ootiuLf  with 
men. 


ii»  L!'!v<'s  evnlenct^ 


Such    lau,t;ua.<;-e    st>ems    to   mock   our    uuderstaiidiM 


L'S. 


Comparisons  o{  the  condition  ol'  woman  dtMiied  tla 


ndT 


rayro 


with  that  of  the  Nci^ro  in  the  South,  have  ol'teu  been  made, 
and  in  this  l\t>port  we  arc  told  that  the  exidusion  of  women 
from  a  convtudion  "constituted  the  startlin.n'  revtdaiion  ol'  a 
riMl    subjection   of   woman   to    luai 


I    worhl-WKle 


and 


m  many 


respects  as  complete  and  i^aHiu.u-,  wIkmi  analysed  and  dnly  con- 
sidered by  its  victims,  as  thai  of  the  Nes^ro  t,o  his  master." 
The  Ne,L;ro.  ni>vertl!(di>ss,  wouhl  not  have  been  .sorrv  to  change 
conilitions.  The  paptM's  thi>  other  day  i;ave  an  aecount  ol"  a 
raitl  made  upon  a  saloon  by  a.  party  of  women  in  masks,  who 
beat  the  proprietor  with  (dubs.  S"veral  siudi  aets  of  violence 
on  the  part  of  women  hav(>  been  recorded;  but  they  are  com- 
mitted a})[)arcntly   not  ludy  with  impunity  but  with  general 


approbation.  Resistance  to  them  api)ea.rs  to  be  proscribed. 
Amcvii'an  women,  also,  seem  to  use  the  cowdiide,  Avheuever 
they  think  tit.  to  avi>nge  their  personal  wrongs.  These  are  not 
practices  in  whiidi  tlu'  Negro  was  allowed  to  indulge  toward 
his  master  before  emancipation,  ov  in  whiidi  he  has  even  been 
allowed  to  indulge  since.  If  the  men  of  the  llnited  States 
were  called  to  account  for  their  treatment  of  the  women,  and 
the  women  at  the  same  time  for  \\w  pcrformauee  of  their  special 


^!l,y  Mint  no 
r  th(<  coim- 
uor  Cor  tluf 
lie  ordiii.'iry 

HM-licS,    !UI(I 

at  tlicy  iu'c 
ml  that  tli(> 
'II   is  riitliiT 
Aetna!  and 
(>s  cvidt'iict' 
<  ballot,  has 
led  itscir  ill 
lady,  "lias 
at   otu'   sad 
)()ting  with 
rstaudiriLrs. 
lie  sulTratrn 
H'cn  made, 
of  woint'ii 
latioii  of  a 
il  in  nuuiy 
il  duly  coii- 
s  master." 
•  to  idiango 
eoiuit  ol'  a 
iiasks,  who 
;>r  violence 
y  a.ri>  eoni- 
tli  general 
proscribed. 
AV^luniever 
ese  are  not 
Igo  toward 
even  been 
ted  Stattis 
omen,  and 
leir  special 


WOMAN   SIIK|.'|{ArjI.;.  213 

<lMty  to  the  ra,ee,  it  seen.s  donbtlnl,  at  h-ast  supposing  that 
A  nenca,n   wnters  on    these   snbjeets   tell   the  trnlh,  wheth 
;;;;;;;;■<•  -  -"IM-tial  tril.una,!  .judgment   would  go  against  the 

Aga,inst  wile-beating,  or  eruelty  of  any  sort  to  wives,  which 

sjnm<,nly....nlu.edtothe<lregsolhnnKUM^ 
'y.'v.nv.nongh;    T  it  were  more  than  severe  enough   it 
..Wdbe.ndan^^^  Mah,  bn.t  lity 

■"l.ynt   ,n    bod.Iy  outrage,  which   ca,n   b.   ...ached   bylaw 

; '- l>-    vv.le  caiMnake  her  l^.sband^s  honHMniscrable  by  vexa- 
-  -Inch   no   h,,w  can   reach.      M.,,.y  y..,..  .,,„  ,..  j^.„^, 

H.-  .'yma,n  was  .-onvictcd  <.r  the  mnrder  ot  his  wile,  bu    lii.s 

-^•nc.Mvasc.nun.m,edwhenitwaslea.m^^^ 

M    .      Aman   ,n   Kugland  narrowly  escaped  imprisonment  as 

/•'I''''  ;>>-^  i;^Is-^l.urge  or  utt...ing  base  .oin,  cast  <m  him  by 
1.0  machinations  <.r  a,  perlidious  wile  who  wanted  to  live  with 
u,r  ,.u-am,,n.  ^  ^1^ 

.  <--tmalIy  con    I  do  nothing  in  the  second.     Children  are  less 
;  •  <'  -^"a,lu.  their  wrongs  kmnvn  than  a,rc  wom.m,  yet  cases 
n..t  seldom  conm  to  light  ot  .ruel  ill-tn.ttmcnt  ot  children  by 
jnien,  .specially  by  .t,cp-niothers.     These  cases,  Hke  tl  J 
u  .le-beat,ng,  .,r<,  huh-ous.     AV.  pu,.i,sl.  the  <,riminals  when 
we  can,  but  we  do  not  propose  to  a.lter  domestie,  relations.     We 
msl^  and  u,  t  e  immense  majority  of  ...ses  with  reason,  to 
a   ..tion,    wh.c,    is    strong,.,    than    law.      That    affection    is 
•onger  tha,n  htw  is  a  fact  often   forgott.m   in  dealing  with 
K.se  .ims^ons.      It  ..ms  to  be  thought  that  the  Statute  Book 
.til.     Nothing  in  the  Statute  Hook,  it  has  been  truly  said, 
pr  vents  the  most  <.,urteous  of  hosts  from  turning  his  guest 
out  ot  his  house  at  juidnight  in  a  storm.  ^ 

Tliat  the  man  should  exercise  a,uthority  in  his  family  may 
••^'  <l^'^'>'HHl  unnatural  and  unjust  when  he  ceases  to  be  held 

Z'^mV"'  'I'^l'T'^''-  ^^  1—^  the  State  eas^ 
pou  hnn  the  undivided  responsibility.  What  the  leaders  of 
ihe  woman  s  rights  nu,vcment  practrca^lly  seek  is,  for  the 
woman,  power  without  responsibility,  for  the  man,  responsi- 
bility without  power.     JUit  this  is  an  arrangement  in  which 


■i   '!! 


Atl 


!■ 


'I 


,j  I  --'  — Mii'i-«j|i,jiii 


214 


QUESTIONS  OF  THE  DAY. 


'm 


m 


illl 


;'! 


If 


man,  though  he  may  be  talked  into  it  for  the  moment,  is  not 
likely  in  the  end  to  acquiesce. 

Is  the  marriage  tie  still  too  tight?  ^  Is  divorce  not  easy 
enough?  One  would  tliink  that  divorce  was  easy  enough  in 
America,  when  in  some  States  you  have  a  divorce  for  every  ten 
marriages,  when  a  judge  at  Chicago  can  dissolve  eight  mar- 
riages in  sixty-two  miniites,  when  wedlock  is  beginning  to  be 
talked  of  as  an  exn-  l-  -nt  whioh  may  be  terminated  if  it  is 
not  found  pleasant  t.  sides. ^    This  does  not  fall  far  short 

of  the  civilised  form  o'  ^.omiscui^y  tho  tendency  to  which  one 
advanced  reformer  hails,  or  from  the  idea  of  another  who  lays 
it  down  that  "there  is  nothing  impure,  nothing  wrong,  in  the 
voluntary  sexual  act  per  .se  though  not  sanctioned  by  what  we 
now  term  marriage.'"*     Mormonism,  if  its  polygamy  is  de- 
nounced,  has    matter   for   a   retort.      American    legislatures 
themselves  are  beginning  to  recoil.     In  Great  Britain  divorce 
is  not  so  easy,  yet  it  is  surely  not  too  difficult  if  the  marriage 
tie  is  to  be  preserved.     The  children,  who  cannot  fail  to  suifer 
by  the  wreck  of  the  family,  are  entitled  to  consideration  as 
well  as  the  parents.     Society  at  large  is  entitled  to  considera- 
tion.    Though  marriages  are  made  not  in  heaven  but  on  earth, 
it  may  safely  be  said  tliat  the  great  majority  of  them  are 
happy;  at  least  that  the  partners  are  happier  united  than  they 
would  have  been  alone.     But  their  success  depends,  in  ordinary 
cases,  on  the  permanence  of  the  bond,  which  enforces  restraint 
of  temper  and  mutual  accommodation.     If  divorce  were  always 
open,  compatibility  would  be  seldom  found;  the  bond  would  be 
broken  by  the  unscrupulous  as  often  as  matrimony  failed  to 
realise  the  dreams  of  courtship.     It  is  easy  to  paint  horrible 


1 

i. 

1 

,    i 

1 

/; 
f 

! 
1 

1    I 

:   1 

1  ■  ' 

f 

■ 

.1  I 

1 

..J 

1  See  Mona  Caird's  articles  in  the  Fortnight! >/  (Vol.  liii.)  and  Westminster 
lieviews  (Vol.  cxxx.).    See  also  Mill's  The  Subjection  of  Woman,  Chap.  ii. 

2  It  seems  that  the  largest  number  of  divorces  are  found  in  the  com- 
munities where  the  advocates  of  female  suffrage  are  most  numerous,  and 
where  the  individuality  of  woman  in  relation  to  her  husband,  which  such 
a  doctrine  inculcates,  is  greatest.  The  movement,  therefore,  or  at  least 
the  tendencies,  appear  to  be  connected.     See  Minority  Report,  p.  10. 

3  Westminster  Rcvieio,  May,  1804. 


!nt,  is  not 

not  easy 
mough  in 
every  ten 
ight  mar- 
ling to  be 
!d  if  it  is 
I  far  short 
ivliich  one 
'  who  lays 
iig,  in  the 
Y  what  we 
ny  is  (le- 
gislatures 
n  divorce 
marriage 
'.  to  suffer 
ration  as 
onsidera- 
on  earth, 
them  are 
;han  they 
ordinary 
restraint 
re  always 
would  be 
failed  to 
i  horrible 

''estminstnr 
I,  Chap.  ii. 
.  the  com- 
erous,  and 
diich  such 
)r  at  least 
p.  10. 


WOMAN  SUFFRAGE.  glS 

SucttMn^!  TT'^'"^  ""r  "''"•  "^"^^^^^  disappointment, 
buch  thmgs  do  happen,  and  very  tragical  and  deplorable  they 

overthrow  ofT-  \^,«f^^- before  marriage,  not  the  virtua"^ 
overthrow  of  an  institution  on  which,  so  far  as  we  can  see  the 
order,  purity,  and  happiness  of  society  depend  ^  ' 

Marriage  may  be  described  from  one  point  of  view  as  a 
restraint  imposed  upon  the  passions  of  the  man  for  the  ben  fit 
of  the  woman.     Cold-blooded  philosophers  choose  to  speak  o 
the  sexual  passion  in  man  as  brutal.     Mighty  it  is-  it  is  no 

Sitl:  """  T  T"  ''''''''  °^  appeLVatihc^ti::/ 
wh  ch  IS  necessary  to  the  preservation  of  life  and  tlie  race.     It 

fined  T/'l     '"";  "!  "'^''""^'^   '^"  ^'''  "^^'-'^'-^  -d 
retined.     At  all  events  it  is  in  most  natures  imperious.     Were 

It  not,  nian  could  hardly  be  induced  to  take  on  him  the  burden 

Sd   if  nftT^'^  and  children.    Being  imperious,  it  will  b 

nof  i^  1  {  "^T^^"'  "^  ''^'''  ^^y'>  ^^^  ™an  would 

not  be  the  gainer  by  the  change. 

The  matrimonial  liistory  of  Shelley  is  instructive  and  full 

above  the  animal  passions  of  ordinary  men.  Shellev  as  his 
a  m.nng  biographer  frankly  tells  us, 'finding  afte  Le  tto 
years  or  more  of  marriage,  tliat  his  Harriet  "  did  not  suit  him  " 
though  she  "had  given  no  cause  whatsoever  for  repudiation  by 
breach  or  tangible  neglect  of  wifely  duty,"  cast  ifer  off  n  an 
abrupt  de  facto  manner"  and  took  Mary  to  his  arms.  Mary 
of  course,  was  of  the  same  opinion.     "  Shelley, "  says  the  biog- 

net  rw'n,^^^  '''^■''""  '''  ''^''"'^  ^^-  ^"^rital  con- 

ect  on  w   h  Harriet  and  assuming  a  similar  relation  to  Mary, 
he  did  nothing  which  he  regarded  as  wrong,  though  as  far  a 

consulted  his  own  option  rather  than  Harriet's."     The  biogra- 
1  Reference  cannot  be  made  to  this  momentous  subject  without  ao 
iJike,   LL.l),   Corresponding  Secretary  of  the   United  States  Nations 

f^rb^fo^r  "^'-'^'^ ''''-' ''''-''-  ^"-^^^-^-  hatto^ttThi 


^*i    ; 


m 


.1 


' 


»:) 


m 


5, 


216 


QUESTKJNS  OF  THE   DAY. 


- 1 


II! 


' *■  ff  i'  i 


Iff.  i: 


i) 


i^ 


■1 
j 

1 1 

; 
•  i 

,1 

i 

'   1 

i 

i.i 

!• 

plier  asserts  that  Harriet,  after  tlie  separation,  (connected 
herself  with  some  other  protei^tor,  a  chargij  \viii(!h,  it  is  to  be 
presumed,  ho  would  not  make  without  knowing  it  to  be  true, 
and  tlie  truth  of  whieh  would  not  in  any  way  in(!nd  the  (iase.* 
Legislation  on  these  lines  would  suit  some  men  better  than  any 
woman.     It  did  not  suit  poor  Harriet. 

It  appears  that  in  the  series  of  legislative  reforms  whieh  in 
the  course  of  a  (-entury  has  been  bringing  Europe  finally  out 
of  the  feudal  system,  with  its  cpiasi-military  relations,  and  with 
the  vestiges  of  tribalism  which  lingered  in  it,  into  the  system 
of  modern  society,  the  interests  of  both  sexes  have  been 
embraced,  and  that  of  the  female  sex  has  had  its  full  share. 
This,  as  the  legisli-tures  were  male,  seems  to  prove  not  only 
that  men  in  legislating  are  unlikely  to  forget  their  wives, 
mothers,  sisters,  and  daughters,  but  that  women  without  votes 
can  exercise  great  influence  on  legislation.  Tlie  press  is  open 
to  them,  i^  is  powerful,  and  not  a  few  of  them  make  use  of  it. 
The  platform  is  o[)en  to  as  many  of  them  as  do  not  shrink  from 
its  publicity.  They  have  access  under  the  most  favourable  con- 
ditions to  those  by  whom  the  law  is  made.  That  they  have 
confidence  in  the  justicie  and  affection  of  men  their  present  ap- 
peal, as  has  been  said  before,  shows;  for  it  is  from  man's  free 
will  that  they  must  expect  the  concession  of  the  suffrage.  Some 
of  them,  it  is  true,  threaten  us  with  a  terrible  vengeance  if 
their  petition  is  not  heard,  but  they  are  powerless  to  give  effect 
to  their  threats.  They  will  renounce  their  present  influence  in 
grasping  the  vote.  Let  them  a])pear  as  a  separate  interest  in 
the  political  arena,  and  they  will,  like  every  other  separate 
interest,  waken  an  antagonism  which  does  not  now  exist. 

That  women  are  treated  as  citizens  only  for  the  purpose  of 
taxation  is  the  summary  of  their  wrongs  blazoned  in  mani- 
festos by  the  leaders  of  the  movement.  The  answer  is  that  the 
State  treats  them  in  all  respects  as  citizens,  giving  them  pro- 
tection for  person,  property,  and  character,  with  every  benefit 

1  See  Mr.  AVilliam  Michael  Rossetti's  Mcmuir  prefixed  to  his  edition  of 
Slielley's  Poetical  Works.  Loudon:  Moxon,  1870.  Different  versions 
have  been  given,  but  there  can  be  no  dispute  about  the  main  facts. 


WOMAN    SUFFRAGE. 


217 


(founected 
t  is  to  be 
5  be  true, 
the  (ituse.' 
L-  than  any 

;  which  iii 
[iiuilly  out 
,  and  with 
he  system 
lave  been 
'ull  share. 

not  only 
3ir  wives, 
lout  votes 
ss  is  open 
use  of  it. 
rink  from 
rable  con- 
bliey  have 
resent  ap- 
aan's  free 
je.  Some 
igeance  if 
jive  effect 
fluence  in 
nterest  in 
■  separate 
xist. 
urpose  of 

in  niani- 
s  that  the 
tliem  pro- 
ry  benefit 

}  edition  of 
lit  versions 
lets. 


which  civil  government  can  bestow,  and  therefore  full  value 
tor  their  taxes. 

The  plain  question  then  presents  itself  in  the  joint  interest 
of  the  two  sexes,  whether  the  exercise  of  political  power  by 
women  would  be  generally  conducive  to  good  government.     H 
It  would  not,  the  concession,  it  must  be  repeated,  would  be  a 
wrong  done  to  the  whole  community.     We  know  very  well 
that  in  some  gifts  and  qualities  woman  is  superior  to  man 
buppose  she  is  superior  to  him  on  tlie  whole.     Suppose,  to 
adopt  the  somewliat  amatory  language  of  Mr.  Blair's  Com- 
mi  tee   she  is  the  angelic  portion  of  humanity.     It  does  not 
lollow   hat  she  is  political  any  more  than  man  is  maternal  or 
adapted  for  housekeeping.     Nor  is  the  absence  of  political 
qualities  a  disgrace   to   her  any   more   than    the   absence  of 
maternal  or  housekeeping  qualities  is  to  liim.     Difference  of 
spheres,  we  must  repeat,  the  spheres  being  e.pial  in  impoi- 
taiice,  implies  no  disparagement.     As   a  rule,   it  is   in   the 
affections  and  graces  that  woman  is  strong;    and  these,  tlie 
affections   at  least,  though  they   may  be  worth   more   than 
the  practical  qualities  needed  in  politics,  are  not  the  practical 
qua  ities.     But  the  training  also  is  wanting.     Tlie  political 
wisdom  of  men  in  general,  to  whatever  it  may  amount,  is 
formed  by  daily  contact  and  collision  with  the  world  in  which 
they  have  to  gain  their  bread,  and  which  impresses  upon  them 
m  Its  rough  school  caution,  prudence,  the  necessity  of  com- 
promise, the  limitations   of  their  will.     Some  of  them  are 
flighty  enough  after  all,  and  the  world  just  now  is  in  no  small 
peril  from  their  fliglitiness.     But  their  general  tendency  as  a 
sex  IS  to  be  commonplace  and  practical.     Their  life  usually  is 
more  or  less  public,  while  that  of  woman  is  in  the  home 
Moreover,  they  feel  as  a  sex  the  full  measure  of  responsibility 
in  public  action.     This  is  not  felt  so  strongly  by  their  partners. 
It  rash  measures  get  the  community  into  trouble,  it  is  by  the 
men  that  it  must  be  got  out  again.     To  them  it  will  fall  to  pull 
the   waggon   through  the   slough.     The   exception   taken   to 
temale  legislators,  or  Ministers  of  State,  or  judges,  on  account 
ot  the  interruptions  of  the  nursery  might  be  met  by  appointing 


§ 


'  -ii  i 


I    ' 


S18 


QUESTIONS   OP  THE   DAY. 


I) 


only  spinsters  or  widows.  Hut  it  would  bo  impossiblo,  with- 
out clwingo  of  sontiniont,  to  hold  tho  i'omalo  h'gislator,  admin- 
istrator, or  judj,'(!  to  the  full  nicasuro  of  uiah;  rcsiujusibility. 
If  they  were  ealhul  to  account  thc^  would  plead  tludr  sex.  We 
are  told  that  ladies  in  New  York  ol)je(;ted  to  the  appointment 
of  education  commissioners  of  their  own  sex  on  the  ground  that 
they  were  exempted  from  criticism  by  th<!  gallantry  of  the  men. 

It  is  supposed  that  women  would  allay  the  angry  strife  of 
faction  and  refine  its  coarsen(!Ss  by  imparting  their  gcnitleness, 
tenderness,  and  delicacy  to  public  life.  But  is  it  not  because 
tliey  have  been  k(!i)t  out  of  ])olities  and  generally  out  of  the 
(iontentious  arena  that  they  have  remained  gentle,  ten(h;r,  and 
delicate?  Weakness  thrown  into  an  exciting  struggle  usually 
shows  itself,  not  by  superior  gentlenes.s,  but  by  loss  of  self- 
control.  Of  this,  the  crusade  against  the  (.Vuitagious  Diseases 
Act  in  England  has  given  some  proof.  Hy  the  use  whicli  both 
the  political  parties  in  England  have  of  l;».te  been  making  of 
women  for  electioneering  i)urposes,  the  fury  of  this  fray  does 
not  seem  to  have  been  allayed. 

"Corruption  of  male  suffrage,"  says  Mr,  lUair's  Report,  "is 
already  a  well-nigii  fatal  disease."  Would  it  be  cured  by 
tlirowing  in  the  otlier  sex?  That  women  would  be  likely,  by 
taking  part  in  public  life,  to  make  it  pure,  that  they  are  less 
prone  than  men  to  favouritism,  jobbery,  and  corruption,  is 
contrary  to  experiencui,  which  shows  that  they  are  prone  to 
these  minor  vices  while  they  are  comparatively  seldom  guilty 
of  the  greater  crimes. 

In  a  paper  prepared  at  tlie  request  of  an  association  of 
women,  which  is  cited  in  the  Minority  Report  of  the  KSenate 
Committee,  Mr.  Francis  Parkman  says  of  tlie  female  politician 
as  she  is  and  is  likely  to  be  in  the  United  States: 

"  It  is  not  woman's  virtues  that  would  be  prominent  or  influential  in 
the  political  arena,  they  would  shun  it  by  an  invincible  repulsion  ;  and 
the  opposite  qualities  would  be  drawn  into  it.  The  Washinston  lobby 
has  given  us  some  means  of  judging  what  we  may  expect  from  the  woman 
'  inside  politics.'  If  politics  are  to  be  puriiied  by  artfulness,  effrontery, 
insensibility,  a  pushing  self-assertion,  ami  a  glib  tongue,  then  we  may 


!  I 


il)lo,  with- 
or,  iidmiu- 
oiisibility. 
•  sex.  We 
poiiitiiKMit 
ruuutl  that 
1'  the  men. 
y  strife  of 
:entloi»ess, 
ut  bedtiuso 
)ut  of  tlie 
JU(U;r,  and 
:le  usually 
js  of  aelf- 
i  Diseases 
t'hich  both 
making  of 
I  ray  does 

eport,  "  is 
cured  by 
likely,  by 
y  are  less 
uption,  is 
prone  to 
jin  guilty 

nation  of 
le  Senate 
politician 


iluential  in 
Islon  ;  and 
gton  lobby 
the  woman 
effrontery, 
n  we  may 


WOMAN  SirpFRAGE.  „,„ 

win 

^H;;:;'':;:r;r;;i;:;:;,r::::,"''^:j  :^"  -7  "ih,  ,„^  ,„  „„„„  „„ 
"•=;;;;i:'rr:-7rV''~ 

pou-n..y  of  .^uini.;:;::;;j:2:;rby^:;;;:. ::,::"-,:- "^^^"  •"- 

politics '  will  not  fail  to  make  nse  <,f  an  i         1  """""'"  '  '"■''''« 

-'  ""^  '=ontin.eney  is  h.  U^hi^.^      :^  ;2:C  'l'  '•'^""-     ^^- 
with  charius  of  her  own   .she  will  Inv,  ,      rm  '"  "  ""''  e'^^^^» 

others  of  her  sex  whoa  cTf!      '''7"*:''"'^'"f>'  '»  <i"<lin«  and  usins 

sases  and  heroes  of   tlK-  Ca,    o        vv         '      '"  '"""'^'^'  ^«^'"«t  *''« 

politics 'the  sensation  press  will  reap  a  h- rL  T        .         ^"^^   '""'''" 
t..  itself  than  profifible  .„  n„Mi  ?  scandals  more  lucrative 

grievances  in  n.at    r   o    s  x   1  ",    n'^'  "'"  ^'  '''''''  ''''''''^  *«  their 

•subjects  Which  had  Lb:::-;;:  :^:r  "^'"-""^"^^^  ''-^^-^^^^  «^ 

large.  The  two,  how  v,  r  'n^.^I  b  sen  ?  "'  ,'^  ''"  "'^*^^''  "^  *'^^  ««^  ^* 
that  the  ,uestio;  is  n^ ^iTZu^  ^ ^^i  ,  ;.::;:";:^^  ^'^T'"'"^^ 
Tiniversal  one.     To  limit  wonlrl  ho  imL     .  ,       !  -suffnige,  but  of  a 

areas  and  the  lowest  ^nZn^,  "npossd,le.  It  would  seek  the  broadest 
malarious  poolsTf  It;!'' '.•''"•'^'  ''"''  """"«^^  "^°  --«hes  and 

That  some  women  are  political  and  many  men  are  not   i«  ac 

a';::::  '^  r  z"  r™ ":  ","™"'*'^'-^ '""  ^  ?<.r;;r:;,;i: 

Jiniazons.     Jiuo  this  does  not  alter  the  jieneral  fief-  ^..^  -^  • 

"  M,rr"'  !"".":■ "■"  "•■"««.  is  s.i' 

^  Minority  Jiepurt,  p.  24. 


'I  „ 


•i' 


I? 


I'! 


J.  I 


5 

4 


■>*" 


••<^- 


:   « 


f- 

t 

j'h 

j 

'j  ;r 

! 

! 

y 

1 

■IM 

^^|i     1 

^" 


920 


Qi:K.sri()Ns  i)v  riiK  dav 


^  failuro  of  males  in  dyniistics,  roinhincd  with  tljo  suporstitioii 
^  of  licroditary  ri^'lit,  that,  h'd  to  tlie  iiitnuhK'tion   in  Kuropn  of 
li    what  .Fohii  Knox  nailed  "  th(!  nionstiouH  n-^dnient  of  women." 
K    ('harles's  experiment  was  not  liappy,  sineo  th<!  resnlt  was  the 
revolt  of  the  NethcM-lands.      Hhuu^he  of  Castile,  is  also  cited  hy 
Mill.     Sh(>  appears  to  have  bocni  a  woman  of  masculine  quali- 
'^""^  ties,  not  to  say  a  viraj,'o,  to  have  held  hor  ex(!(dlent  hut  rather 
weak-mimh'dson  in  complete  sul)j(>etion,  and  to  have  governed 
with  vigour  and  judgmeid,  as  his  vicegerent;   but  there  went 
evidently  two  sules  to  her  c,ha,ra,cter;  whi(di  of  them  pn^vailed 
V  on  the  whole,  we  have  hardly  evidence  enough  to  decid<!. 
^       If  we  are  to  go  to  history,  to  history  hit  us  go;  only  remem- 
bering that   the   examples   are    thos((  of  (piecns    regnant,  or 
,    women  phuM'd  by  their  einuimstances  in  |)ositions  of  power,  and 
\^  that  they  afford  no  certain  indication  of  what  women  would  be 

fl^^''^"  ^^^^^  ^''^'^  elind)ed  to  power  as  demagogues  after  passing 
.^through  the  party  mill. 

^i       In  England,  the  women  wlio  have  wielded  power  legally  or 
practically  have   been  Matilda,   the   claimant   of  the   crown 

^  against  Stephen,  about  whom  we  know  little,  but  who  seems 
to  have  injured  her  party  by  her  arrogance;  Eleanor,  the  jeal- 
ous and  intriguing  Queen  of  ilenry  11.,  who  laboured  to  secure 
^v    the  succession  for  John,   and  whose  own  record  is  not  fair; 

■^  Isabella,  the  paramour  of  IMortimer,  and  with  him  guilty  of 
the  murder  of  Edward  11. ;  IVlargaret,  the  Queen  of  Henry  VI., 
whose  violence  and  favouritism  helped  to  bring  on  the  War  of 
the  Roses;  Mary,  of  whom  it  need  only  be  said  that  she  was 
probably  not  a  bad  woman,  but  misled  by  influences  to  which 
her  sex  is  specially  exposed;  Elizabeth;  Henrietta  Maria,  who 
by  her  ftuninine  violence  had,  like  Margaret  of  Anjou,  no  small 
share  in  jdunging  the  country  into  civil  war;  and  Queen  Anne, 
who,  under  personal  influences  and  at  tlio  instigation  of  a 
favourite  waiting-woman,  upset  a  great  ministry  and  deprived 
the  country  of  the  fruits  of  victory,  Avliile,  had  she  lived 
longer,  her  fondness  for  her  family  would  have  probably  led  to 
an  attempt  to  restore  the  Stuarts.  -Th©-«tai-  is  Elizabeth.  But 
Elizabeth's  reputation  for  anything  except  the  arts  of  popu- 


WOMAN   SCIFKHA(}K.  221 

larity,  in  winch  she  was  siipivnu",  has  surjVre.l  torril.ly  by  the 
resour..h..s  ol'  Motl,.y  a.ul  „th..,.  nH'.ent  svrit.u-s.     1 1.;,  (hvrit;- 
tuliiess,  iKU-lidy,  an.l  int;ratit,„i,.  to  tl.os,,  who  had  sorved  hor 
an.l  Uu,  .om.tiy  b..t,  wor.  pivtfcy  w.dl  known,  .s  won,  her 
vanity  and  ho.v  .o^n.-try.     Hut  hvy  n-putation  for  statesman- 
«liip  is  now  Kr.;.My  rchurd,  an.l  it  is  .d.-ar  that  tin,  (,onntry 
was  saved  not  l.y  h.r,  l,„t  by  itsHf;   from  tho  Ar.na.la  it  was 
saved  in  her  .lespite.     Mr.  Fronde,  who  .set  out  as  h.-r  fervent 
admirer,  has  in  the  end  to  say  that  her  eondnet  in  the  transac- 
tion whieh  preceded  the  sailin-^  of  the  A rnuuht  "  would  alone 
.suHice  to  disqualify  Elizabeth  from  being  eited  as  an  example 
of  the  eapa(uty  of  female  sovereigns."     And  when  the  country 
was  sav.Ml,  whom  .lid  the  (^ueen  select  for  the  honour?    Whom 
did  she  pnd'er  on  this  and  all  oth.-r  occasions  above  the  ureat 
servants  of  the  State?     The  good-looking  but  worthless  Leices- 
ter   ^infamed,"  as  Burleigh  said  he  was,  -  by  the  d(>ath  of  his 
wite.       H,.,  ungrateful  perse.mtion  of  the    Puritans   in  the 
latter   part   of   her   reign   sowed   the  wind   from   which   her 
unhappy  successors  reaj)ed  tlu,  whirlwind.     She  had  the  good 
fortune  to  be  the  crowning  figure  of  an  heroic  age,  and  her  sex 
threw  about  her  a  romantic  halo,  the  brightness  of  which  was 
enhanced  by  the  cahtmities,  partly  her  bequest,  which  ensued 
In  i^  ranee  the  more  recent  list  is  Catherine  de  M(«dici,  whose 
name  suffices ;  Anne  of  Austria,  who  was  in  the  able  hands  of 
Mazarin;  Madame  de  Maintenon,  to  whose  female  piety  France 
owed  the  revocation  of  the  Edict  of  Mantes,  while  to  her  ten- 
derness for  the  Catholic  Stuarts  it  owed  a  great  war;  Madame 
de  Pompadour,  whose  name  again  suffices;  Marie  Antoinette 
wlio,  besides  helping  to  dismiss  Turgot  and  to  complete  the 
ruin  of  In-ench  finances  by  plunging  France  into  the  war  of 
the  American  Revolution,  did  so  much  to  bring  on  the  crash  of 
the  French  Levolution  that  her  misdeeds  were  scarcely  washed 
out  by  her  tears.     The  story  is  closed  by  the  influence,  partly 
religious,  ])artly  dynastic  and  domestic,  which.  Frenchmen  say 
made  the  Franco-Gorman  war  and  finished  the  work  by  interfer- 
ing with  Its  conduct  in  the  interest  of  the  dynasty  and  deterring 
the  Emperor  and  his  army  from  falling  back  on  Paris 


:if. 


r 


222 


QUESTIONS   OF  THE    DAY. 


If 


Isabella  ol'  Oastile  graced  her  crown  and  formed  a  noble 
queen  of  chivalry  in  the  war  against  the  Moors.  As  a  ruler, 
slu!  had  Ferdinand  at  her  side.  That  it  was  to  her  feminine 
instinct  that  tlio  genius  of  Columbus  was  revealed,  recent 
researches  have  made  less  certain  than  it  is  that  her  piety 
established  the  lufiuisition  in  (Jastile,  and  that  great  numbers 
of  |)ersons  were  burned  by  it  in  her  reign. 

iMonuments  of  a  female  influences  over  government  more 
certainly  beneficent  were  the  crosses  which  Edward  I.  erected 
in  memory  of  the  Queen  who  seems  to  have  softened  his 
sternness  with  her  love,  while  she  displayed  the  beauty  of 
affection  on  the  throne.  England  also  owes  a  debt  of  gratitude 
to  Caroline  of  Brunswick,  by  whose  unambitious  support  Wal- 
pole,  the  best  statesman  of  an  uuheroic  time,  was  kept  in  power. 

Nothing  need  bo  said  about  queens  nominally  regnant  who 
have  reigned  but  not  governed,  and  whose  influence  has  been 
happily  exerted  in  the  social  sphere  which  all  admit  to  be  the 
realm  of  woman. 

Queen  Victoria,  however,  is  often  cited  as  a  proof  that  a 
woman  can  rule  an  Empire  without  male  help.  What  says 
Queen  Victoria  herself  ?  *'  Lord  IMelbounu-^  was  very  useful  to 
me,  but  I  can  never  be  sufHciently  thankful  that  I  passed 
safely  through  those  two  years  to  my  marriage.  Then  I  Avas 
in  a  safe  haven,  and  there  I  renuiined  for  twenty  years.  Now 
that  is  over,  and  I  am  again  at  sea,  always  wishing  to  consult 
one  who  is  not  here,  groping  by  myself,  with  a  constant  sense 
of  desolation."  * 

Suppose  now  that  a  crisis  should  come  in  this  political 
struggle,  as  conceivably  it  may,  laying  a  strain  on  the  personal 
force  and  resolution  of  the  wearer  of  the  British  crown.  Sup- 
pose a  Radical  majority  should  demand  the  destruction  of  the 
House  of  Lords  by  a  swamping  creation  of  Peers.  Could  a 
lady  be  advised  or  expected  to  do  anything  which  would  expose 
her  to  danger  or  annoyance  even  in  the  utmost  necessity  of 
the  State? 

1  The  Lifo  and  Correspondence  of  Arthur  Penrhyn  Stanley,  D.D.,  late 
Dean  of  Wcstnunstcr,  by  Rowland  E.  Prothero,  M.A.,  Vol.  H.,  p.  127. 


d  a  noble 
IS  a  ruler, 
feminine 
3(1,  recent 
her  piety 
t  numbers 

lent  more 
J.  erected 
tened  his 
beauty  of 

gratitude 
port  Wal- 

in  power. 
:nant  who 
!  has  been 
i  to  be  the 

lof  that  a 
^hat  says 
'  useful  to 
I  passed 
iCn  I  was 
rs.  Now 
io  consult 
;ant  sense 

political 
!  personal 
n\.  Sup- 
on  of  the 

Could  a 
lid  expose 
cessity  of 

D.D.Jate 
,  p.  127. 


WOMAN  SUFFRAGE.  223 

Mill  has  told  us  that  Begums  have  shone  as  rulers  in  India 
He  was  m  the  India  House  and  his  authority  is  good    tho  Ih 
he   does   not  give  the  names.      It  is   hardly^redibt  tt 'a 

might  be  l)etter  tha.i  a  hog  or  a  tiger.  Not  all  IJec^ums  have 
escaped  he  common  influence  of  the  Durbar.  We  W  one 
styled  a  heroine,  making  away  successively  with  lier  fatlieHn'- 
law  her  husband,  and  lier  son,  because  they  «tood  in  er  wa 
Tmir^:^;^-^^^'  and  practising  corr^^tion  as  ;::i;t 
any  male.  Ihe  superiority  can  hardly  be  .such  as  to  ^ve 
^..irance  of  safety.  ^ 

H.ffV^''  T'f'  .^^l^*^"^^""^  apparently  so  far  fails  to  show 
that  the  introduction  of  women  into  politics  would  be  likelv 
to  lead  to  any  improvement  of  government  or  legislation  sut^ 
hcient  to  countervail  tiie  danger  of  misdirecting  the  asp  ra- 
lons  of  woman  and  withdrawing  her  f.om  her  proper  and 
trajiscendently  important  work  as  a  wife  and  mother 

The  writer  of  this   paper  .signed,  in  company  with  Jolin 
.right,  Jolui  Stuart  Mill's  first  petition  in  favour  of  suffia'o 
<n-  unmarried  women.     Mr.  Briglit,  as  well  as  the  writer,  wis 
a  good  deal  influenced  by  his  ivspect  and  regard  for  Mill 
iM.th  of  tliem  afterwards  cluinged  tlieir  minds,  and   Bright 
spoke  strongly  against  the  measure.     The  writer  found  that 
the  women  of  his  acquaintance  for  wliom  he  had  most  respec 
and  who  seemed  to  him  tlie  best  representatives  of  their  sex' 
were  opposed  to  the  change,  fearing  that  the  position  and 

Srof^l;:::"" '' '''''"-' '--'''' '-  ^^-^'-^  *^  ^^- 

Since  that  time  Mill's  Autobiography  has  appeared,  and  has 
evca led  the  history  of  his  extraordinary  and  almost  portentous 
ed  u^ation,  the  singular  circumstances  of  his  marriao-e  his 
hallucination  (for  it  surely  can  be  called  nothing  else)  ^s  to 
the  surpassing  genius  of  his  wife,  and  peculiarities  of  char- 
frnt'f''1?  ^^^"P^rament  such  as  could  not  fail  to  prevent  liim 
trom  fully  appreciating  the  power  of  influences  which,  whatever 
1  See  C.  Forjelt's  Our  Real  Danger  in  India,  p.  39. 


224 


(iUESTlUNS   OF   THE    DAY 


/J 


l'^ 


our  philosophy  may  say,  reign  and  will  continue  to  reign 
supreme  over  questions  of  this  kind.  To  him  marriage  was  a 
union  of  two  jiliilosophers  in  the  pursuit  of  truth,  and  wedded 
life  was  intellectual  intercourse.  In  his  Avoi'k  on  "  The  Sub- 
jection of  Women  "  not  only  does  he  almost  leave  maternity 
out  of  sight,  but  sex  and  its  influences  seem  hardly  to  be 
present  to  his  mind.  Of  the  distinctive  excellence  and  beauty 
of  the  female  (diaracter,  or  of  the  conditions  essential  to  its 
preservation,  it  does  not  appear  that  he  liad  fornuul  any  idea, 
thougli  he  dilates  on  the  special  (puilities  of  the  fenuile 
understanding. 

Mill  has  allowed  us  to  see  that  his  opinions  as  to  the  politi- 
cal position  of  women  were  formed  early  in  his  life,  probably 
before  he  had  studied  history  rationally,  perhaps  before  the 
rational  study  of  history  had  come  into  existence.  The  con- 
sequence, with  all  deference  to  his  great  nanm  be  it  said,  is 
that  his  historical  presentment  of  the  case  is  fundamentally 
unsound.  He  and  his  disciples  represent  the  lot  of  the 
woman  as  having  always  been  determined  by  the  Avill  of  the 
man,  who,  according  to  them,  has  willed  that  she  should  be 
the  sh.tve,  and  that  he  should  be  her  master  and  tyrant. 
"  Society,  both  in  this  [the  case  of  marriage]  and  other  cases, 
has  preferred  to  attain  its  object  l)y  foul  rather  than  by  fair 
means;  but  this  is  the  only  case  in  which  it  has  substantially 
persisted  in  them  even  to  the  present  day."  This  is  Mill's 
fundamental  assumption;  and  from  it,  as  every  rational  student 
of  history  is  now  aware,  conclusions  utterly  erroneous  as  well 
as  injurious  to  humanity  nuist  flow.  The  lot  of  the  woman 
has  not  been  determined  by  the  will  of  the  man,  at  least  in 
any  considerable  degree.  Tlie  lot  both  of  the  man  and  of  the 
woman  lias  been  determined  from  age  to  age  by  circumstances 
over  which  the  will  of  neither  of  them  had  much  control,  and 
which  neither  could  be  blamed  for  accepting  or  failing  to 
reverse.  INIill  and  his  disciples  assume  that  the  man  has 
always  willed  that  he  should  himself  enjoy  political  rights, 
and  that  the  woman  should  be  his  slave;  forgetting  tliat  it  is 
only  in  a  few  countries  that  man  does  enjoy  political  rights, 


t 

i 


^  to  reign 

iage  was  a 
lid  wedded 
'The  Sub- 
maternity 
I'dly  to  be 
iiid  beauty 
itial  to  its 
I  any  idea, 
he   female 

the  politi- 
;,  probably 
before  the 
The  con- 
it  said,  is 
iamentally 
lot  of  the 
vill  of  the 

should  be 
nd  tyrant, 
ither  cases, 
an  by  fair 
bstantially 
s  is  Mill's 
nal  student 
ous  as  well 
the  woman 
at  least  in 
and  of  tlie 
cumstances 
ontrol,  and 

failing  to 
i  man  has 
ical  rights, 
g  tliat  it  is 
ical  rights, 


WOMAN  SUFFRAGE.  226 

and  that  even  in  those  few  countries,  freedom  is  the  birth 
a  most  of  yesterday.  It  may  probably  be  said  that  the  number 
of  men  who  have  really  and  freely  exercised  the  suf  „  L 
he  presen  tnne  is  not  very  much  greater  than  the  number  of 
those  who  have  in  different  ages  and  in  various  ways  laS  dow, 
then-lives  or  made  personal  sacrifices  of  other  kimls  in  bv^ 
ing  elective  government  into  existence  ^' 

In  the  early  stages  of  civilisation  the  family  was  sociallv 
and  legally,  as  well  as  politicallv  a  unit  Tfl  T  '^^^'^^'^ 
sented  the  whole  houselid  befo7the  t r  b  '  the  S  7  "^  n 
persons  and  bodies  without;  ^In^ ^Z!^ ^^^'^^2 
power  over  all  the  members,  male  as  well  as  f^a^  fve  • 

the  head  of  a  family  his  eldest  son  stepped  into  his  place  and 
became    he  representative  and  protector  of  the  w  loLh;^' 
hold,  mcluding  tlie  wi.low  of  the  deceased  chief.     This  syst  m 
ng  retained  in  conservative  Kome,  was  there  the  soiut  "f 

elin^W  t^f^'-W^r^'^^'  '''''  'y  -  exparon 
teelmg  fiom  tlie  family  to  the  community,  of  the  patriotism 

res   „f  H    f  *"',  ^°"T  "^  ""■  P^''^™"'  ™"-rity  .as  tl  o  S  - 
.ess  of  the  family,  without  regard  to  the  eommon  la,v  a-^a    st 

«:  eSeri'ort'hrr-  ■, '""  ''■''°"^'''"'™  ™  --^™  ^ 

tiie  existence  of  tlio  family  m  primitive  times;  without  it  tlie 

s  .ppose  that  It  was  devised  by  the  male  sex  for  the  ^ratifiA" 

b,';.,l  n"  °™  '^-""'-'  P-Pensities,  would  Cm  t 
absuul.  It  was  at  least  as  mueh  a  necessity  to  the  primitive 
woman  as  ,t  was  to  the  primitive  man.     It  is  still  a  Lc"s  ilv 

were  sudd^f  •        .}"  "f  '*  "'  "  '""'''  J^^"™'"  »  ^^e 

patedf^om  S       :V  "fl  ^"""'"""'^  «'8l.ts,  and  emanei- 
pated  tiom  the  protection  of  her  husband' 

ally  has  its  origin  m  slavery,  and  is  a  hideous  relic  of  that 


■        !     I  ■ 

i     J- 


•^if 


i  I 


'  i 


I 
* 
I 

;/     , 

; 

f     ' 

1 
1 

.1 

'  i 


■'II 


I    i  i 


22(5 


QUESTIONS   OF   THE    DAY. 


system,  is  ii  theory  wliuOi  Mill  sets  forth  in  language  such  as, 
if  it  could  sink  into  the  h.earts  of  those  to  whom  it  is  addressed, 


rlit  ti 


itt'eetion  to  bitte 


d  divide 


h 


diold 


House 

against  itscdf.      \'et  this  theory  is  without  historic^al  founda- 
tion.     It  seems   indcu'd   like  a  ligurc^  of  invective  heedlessly 
converted  into  history.     l']ven  in  the  most  ])rimitive  times, 
and  those   in   whi(!h  the   sid)jection  of  the  woman  was  most 
complete,  the  wift^.  Avas  clearly  distinguished  from  the  slave. 
The  lot  of  Siirah  is  different  from  that  of  Ifagar;  the  authority 
of  Hector  ovcm-  Aiulnnnache  is  absolute,  yet  no  one  can  con- 
fcmnd  her  ])osition  with  tliat  of  lier  handmaidens.     The  Koman 
matron  who  sent  her  slave  to  be  erucilied,  tlu^  Southern  matrcm 
who  Avas  the  Kerce  sui)portor  of  slavery,  were  not  themselves 
slaves.     WhatcH'cr  may  now  be  obsolete  in  the  relations  of 
husband  and  wife  is  not  a  relic  of  slavery,  but  of  primitive 
marriage,  and  may  be  regarded  as  at  worst  an  arriingement 
onee  indispiMisablo  which  has  survived  its  hour.     Where  real 
slavery  has  existed,  it  has  extended  to  both  sexes,  and  it  has 
ceased  for  both  at  the  same  time.     Even  the  Oriental  seclusion 
of  Avomen,  jjerhaps  the  Avorst  condition  in  Avhich  the  sex  has 
ever  been,  has  its  root  not  in  the  slave-owning  propensity  so 
much  as  in  jealousy,  a  passion  Avhich,  though  extravagant  and 
detestable  in  its  excessive  manifestation,  is  not  Avithout  an 
element  of  affection.     The  most  beautiful  building  in  the  East 
is  that  Avhich  Shah  Jehan  raised  as  the  monument  of  a  beloved 
Avife.     Is  it  ])ossible  that  an  American  lady  living  in  Taris  on 
the  fruits  of  her  husband's  toil  at  New  York,  or  looking  on 
Avhile  a  porter  at  Saratoga  toils  beneath  her  colossal  trunk, 
should  deem  herself  a  slave? 

Tf  the  calm  and  philosophic  nature  of  Mill  is  ever  betrayed 
into  violence,  it  is  in  his  denunciations  of  the  present  institu- 
tion of  marriage.  He  depicts  it  as  a  despotism  full  of  mutual 
degiiidation,  and  fruitful  of  no  virtues  or  affections  except  the 
debased  virtues  and  the  miserable  affections  of  the  master  and 
the  slave.  The  grossest  and  most  degrading  terms  of  Oriental 
servitude  are  used  to  designate  the  relations  of  husband  and 
Avife  throughout  the  book.     A  husband  Avho  desires  his  Avife's 


!  such  as, 
ildvessed, 
lousehold 
I  fouiida- 
ccdlessly 
re.  times, 
^vas  iiifyst 
he  skive, 
authority 
eau  con- 
le  Koman 
•n  luatron 
lemselves 
atious  of 
pviuiitive 
iiugemeut 
Hieve  real 
ind  it  has 
sechisiou 
?.  sex  has 
tensity  so 
igant  and 
ithout  an 
I  the  East 
;i  beloved 
1  I'aris  on 
ooking  on 
lal  trunk, 

•  betrayed 
it  institu- 
of  mutual 
except  tlie 
laster  and 
f  Oriental 
sband  and 
his  wife's 


WOMAN  SUFFRAGE.  227 

irid'  "^^'.'^^^"S  "*«  h'-^-^  in  the  woman  most  nearly  con- 
nected with  him,  not  a  forced  slave,  but  a  willing  one-  not  a 
lave  merely,  but  a  favourite.''     Husbands   have'   Te'refo L 
^^  everything  ni  p.,etico  to  enslave   the  minds  of  Z^ 
wives        U  a   wife   is   intensely   attaoJied   to   her   liusband 
"exactly  as  mueli  may  be  said  of  domestic  slavery."     "la 

^^t^  T-  ""'"■'  '^^'"^  *°  ^^  -susceptible  are 

calh.d  foith  n  human  beings  towards  those  who,  havin<^  the 
power  entirely  to  crusli  their  earthly  existence,' volil 
refrain  from  using  their  power."  Even  children  are  only  k^ 
m  he  chain  of  bondage.  By  the  affections  of  women  "t 
eant  the  only  ones  they  are  allowed  to  have,  tiiose  to  the  men 
to  whoni  tliey  are  connected,  or  to  the  children  wlio  constitute 
an  additional  and  indefeasible  tie  between  them  and  a  ma  '' 
Such  a  descnption  of  Britisli  matrimony  seems  to  be  scarcely 

b  n    enn V  "  '^'""''  ""'^  ''  ''  ^'"''^'^  ^'-^^  the  hus- 

band can  lutve  no  m.t,ve  but  the  love  of  undivided  tyranny  for 

his  wife  s  affections.     As  tlumgli  a  wife  would  regard  with 

heaitli!     Mills  book,  written  with  his  usual  clearness  and 

mraTTtir'  "^'^^^  '""  "'^  "^^"^^^•^*°'  ''-  ----d  t" 
n  with  -t  ""'";;'"'•  ''  ''  '^''''^'''  «*i"  n«««««ary  to 
deal  witli  It,  nor  can  tliere  be  anything  invidious,  as  some  of 

us  admirers  seem  to  have  fancied,  in  reviewing  it'  by  the'lh 
o      he  Autobiography.      For  what  purpose   is  the  life  of  a 
philosopher  published  if  it  is  not  to  enaWe  us  better   o  uiuL- 
stand  his  works       The  book  unght  poisou  marriage  if  it     o,^ 

"  -  ^;^^^-°-Jj^%e  of  the  influence  under;hich  it ;::! 
w  ittei.  Mill  Inmselt  seems  at  last  to  start  from  the  picture 
which  he  has  drawn  and  to  be  inclined  to  qualify  it  Bu  he 
does  this  faintly  and  too  late.  ^ 

If,    in    this    most    imperfect    world,   woman,    clu-ou-di    the 

and  too  often  at  her  partner's  hands,  sh.e  has  also  had  adv^n- 


1   s'      ;' 


4  i 


:* 


1 1 


I 


228 


QUESTIONS  OF  THE  DAY. 


ii 


/) 


:!iJ   it 


If 


I 


t 

i 

1 

'   1 

1 

'1 

1 

:i 

^1  1 

i 

(1 

'■            1 

h 

tages  whicli  she  would  have  been  sorry  to  forfeit,  and  which 
she  woukl  be  sorry  to  forfeit  now.  She  has  sat  safe  in  her 
liome  while  her  i)artuer  was  toiling,  hunting,  battling  with  the 
sea,  fighting  for  her  abroad.  By  her  partner's  labour  and  with 
p(U'il  of  his  life  the  earth  has  been  subdued  for  her  and  made 
fit  for  her  habitation.  When  she  complains  that  she  has  been 
treated  as  a  toy,  does  she  mean  that  she  has  been  wronged 
because  man  has  taken  most  of  the  rough  and  hard  work  to 
himself?  War  has  comparatively  spared  her;  public  justice 
has  been  lenient  to  her;  in  a  shipwreck  she  has  been  put  first 
into  the  boat,  while  the  slave  to  whom  she  now  likens  herself 
has  been  thrown  overboard  to  save  the  provisions.  In  civilised 
countries  she  is  on  all  occasions  served  and  considered  first; 
special  provisions  are  made  for  her  comfort  and  convenience. 
Is  this  the  lot  of  a  slave,  or  of  one  even  more  miserable  than 
a  slave? 

Sometimes  woman  has  had  man's  hard  work  to  do.  But  this 
has  been  mostly  in  times  of  special  need  or  of  general  bar- 
barism, and  the  revulsion  which  any  such  employment  of  her 
causes,  denotes  her  general  immunity.  The  Red  Indian  used 
his  mate  as  a  beast  of  burden.  But  the  Red  Indian  was  a 
savage.  Even  he,  however,  might  have  pleaded  special  need. 
The  hunter,  by  the  product  of  whose  chase  the  wigwam  was 
fed,  would  have  been  spoiled,  his  powers  of  endurance  would 
have  been  reduced,  and  the  keenness  of  his  sense  would  have 
been  impaired,  by  heavy  domestic  labour. 

]\farriage  has  risen  in  character  with  the  general  progress  of 
civilisation  from  the  primeval  contract  of  force  or  purchase  to 
a  free  contract,  of  a  contract  generally  of  love.  Primeval 
practice  was  not  regulated  by  the  will  of  those  generations, 
but  by  primeval  circumstance,  and  the  improvement  of  the 
marriage  tie  has  come,  as  all  other  great  improvements  of 
human  relations  have  come,  in  the  course  of  secular  evolution. 
It  Avas  something  when  the  passions  of  the  male  were  subjected 
to  a  regular  and  lasting  bond  of  any  kind.  If  women  are  now 
to  be  made  independent  of  marriage,  which  appears  to  be  the 
aim  of  some  of  their  champions,  they  will  be  made  indepen- 


WOMAN  SUFFRAGE. 


229 


dent  of  that  in  wliich  the  happiness  of  a  creature  formed  for 
affection  usually  consists.  Perhaps  if  they  take  advantage  of 
their  ind(3pendenco  many  of  them  will  owe  their  champions 
but  scanty  tlumks  in  tlieir  old  age. 

The  anomalies  in  tlu.  property  law  affecting  married  women, 
to  which  remedial  legislation  has  recently  been  directed,  are, 
like  whatever  is  obsolete  in  the  relations  between  the  sexes 
generally,  not  deliberate  iniquities,  but  survivals.  They  are 
relics  of  feu.lalisin  or  of  still  more  primitive  institutions  incor- 
porated by  feudalism;  and  while  the  system  to  which  they 
belonged  existed  they  were  indispensable  parts  of  it,  and  must 
Jiave  been  so  regarded  by  both  sexes  alike.  Any  one  who  is 
tolerably  well  informed  ought  to  be  ashamed  to  represent  them 
as  the  contrivances  of  male  injustice.  It  is  not  on  one  sex 
only  that  the  relics  of  feudalism  have  borne  hard. 

The  exclusion  of  women  from  professions  is  cited  as  another 
proof  of  constant  and  immemorial  injustice.     But  what  woman 
asked  or  wished  to  be  admitted  to  a  profession  a  hundred  or 
even  fifty  years  ago?     What  woman  till  quite  recently  would 
have  been  ready  to  renounce  marriage  and  maternity  in  order- 
that  she  might  devote  herself  to  laAv,  medicine,  or  commercial 
pursuits?    The  demand  is  probably  in  some  measure  connected 
with  an  abnormal  and  possibly  transient  state  of  things      The 
expensiveness  of  living  in  a  country  where  the  fashion  is  set 
by  millionairos,  combined  with  tlie  overcrowded  condition  of 
the  very  callings  to  which  women  are  demanding  admission 
has  put   extraordinary  difficulties   in   the  way  of  marriage' 
Many  women  are  thus  left  without  an  object  in  life,  and  they 
naturally  try  to  open  for  themselves  some  new  career      The 
utmost  sympathy  is  due  to  them,  and  every  facility  ou^ht 
in  justice  to  be  afforded  them;  thougli  unhappily  the  addition 
of  fresh  competitors  for  subsistence  to  a  crowd  in  which  some 
are  already  starving  will  be  as  far  as  i)ossible  from  removincr 
the  real  root  of  the  evil,  to  say  nothing  of  the  risk  which  a 
woman  runs  in  committing  herself  irrevocably  to  an  undo- 
mestic  calling,  and  closing  against  herself  the  gate  of  married 
life.     But  the  demand,  as  has  already  been  said,  is  of  yester- 


i 

n 

1'i 


230 


QUESTIONS  OF  THE  DAY. 


m  ' 

ill 

'  >!  '■ ' 

fi  'i 


day,  and  probably  in  its  serious  form  is  as  yet  confined  to  the 
countries  in  which  impediments  to  early  marriage  exist.  It  is 
not  always  easy  to  distinguish  the  serious  demand  from  a  pas- 
sion for  enuilatiug  the  nuile  sex  which  is  hardly  more  respec- 
table in  women  than  the  affectation  of  feminine  tastes  and 
habits  would  be  in  a  man.  With  regard  to  the  profession  of 
law,  indeed,  so  far  as  it  is  concerned  with  the  administration 
of  justice,  there  is,  as  was  said  before,  and  while  human 
emotions  retain  tlieir  force  always  will  be,  a  reason,  independent 
of  the  (pu'stion  of  denumd,  for  excduding  women,  at  least  for 
excluding  one  of  the  two  sexes  from  jury  trials.  The  influence 
of  a  ])retty  advocate  appealing  to  a  jury,  perhaps  in  behalf  of 
a  client  of  her  own  sex,  would  not  have  seemed  to  Mill  at  all 
dangerous  to  the  integrity  of  public  justice;  but  most  people, 
and  especially  those  who  have  seen  anything  of  sentimental 
causes  in  the  United  States,  or  even  in  more  phlegmatic  Eng- 
land, will  probably  be  of  a  different  opinion. 

What  has  been  said  as  to  the  professions  is  equally  true  of 
the  universities,  which  were  schools  for  the  professions.  A  few 
years  ago,  what  girl  would  have  consented  to  leave  her  home 
and  mingle  with  male  students?  What  girl  would  have 
thought  it  possible  that  she  could  go  through  the  whole  of  the 
medical  course  with  nude  companions  of  her  studies?  Even 
now  what  is  the  amount  of  settled  belief  in  "co-education"? 
What  would  be  said  to  a  young  man  wlio  applied  for  admission 
in  the  name  of  that  principle  at  the  door  of  any  female  college? 
Without  arraigning  what  has  been  done,  those  whose  duty 
it  is  may  reconsider  with  due  deliberation  the  two  distinct 
questions  —  whether  it  is  desirable  that  tlie  education  of  both 
sexes  shall  be  the  same,  and  whether  it  is  desirable  that  the 
young  men  and  the  young  women  of  the  wealthier  classes 
shall  be  educated  together  in  the  universities.  Beneath  the 
first  question  lies  the  still  deeper  question  whether  it  is 
good  for  humanity  that  woman,  who  has  hitherto  been  the 
helpmate  and  the  complement,  should  become,  as  the  leaders 
of  the  AVoman's  Rights  movement  evidently  desire,  the  rival 
and  competitor  of  man.     Both  slie  cannot  be;  and  it  is  by  no 


ned  to  the 
ist.  It  is 
•0111  a  pas- 
)re  respec- 
tastes  and 
ifession  of 
lustration 
le  human 
dependent 
b  least  for 
;  influence 
behalf  of 
Mill  at  all 
st  people, 
intimental 
latic  Eng- 

ily  true  of 
as.    A  few 

her  home 
)uld  have 
Lole  of  the 
!s?  Even 
ucation"? 
admission 
ie  college? 
Iiose  duty 
o  distinct 
n  of  both 
e  that  the 
er  classes 
neath  the 
iher   it   is 

been  the 
le  leaders 

the  rival 
t  is  by  no 


WOMAN  SUFFRAGE.  231 

means  clear  that  in  deciding  which  she  shall  be  the  aspirations 

the  sex      r       '^^";r""'"*  ^^^"^^^^  '^'"'^  ^^-  interests  of 
the  sex      Marriage,  if  tliat  is  to  be  considered,  is  surely  more 

"'It  si  I '     rr'?  ''"^  '^  ^"^^"^^"'^^^^  ^'  acquiremei 
on  the  sides  of  the  two  partners,  universal  accomplishment 
being  possible  to  neither.  piisximcnc 

hal^nt'of ""'"''"  w'^  """''''''  ^^"'  ^'''^'''-'^  ^''^  ^^f^^tive,  so 
botli.     Surely  no  accomplishment  in  the  acquisition  of  which 
woman  has  been  condemned  to  spend  her  time  could  well  be 
ess  useful  than  that  of  writing  Greek  or  Latin  verses  liarLn 
to  the  generality  of  male  students.     That  the  education!^ 
woman  has  hitherto  been  lighter  than  that  of  men  is  noT;o 
that  for  the  purposes  of  woman's  destination  it  has  been  Avorse 
Among  other  things,  it  is  to  be  considered  whetlier  the  children 
would  be  healthy  if  the  brain  of  the  mother,  as  well  as  t  it  of 

1  ast  hon\rr.r'"''^  '''^^'^^^-     ^"^  "-^^^-^  --thonty  at 
east  holds  that  the  principal  cause  of  tlie  increasing  avoidance 

and  prevention  of  child-bearing  in  the  United  States  is  th 

hysical  and  rervous  deterioration  of  the  women,  which,  in 

ns  op.„,on  IS   argely  due  to  tlie  severe  strain  of  modern   ife 

and  education.^    That  the  comparative  absence  of  works  o 

cieative  genius  among  women  is  due  entirely  to  the  social 

ttm'L:    rf  '"  '"^"'"^'  "•  ^^  «"PP-^^  *°'--  -eluded 
elf  evident.     The  case  of  musical  composition,  often  cited 

fItdSr'  'f  v*'""^  ''  ^^^^^^^^'  ^'^"^^'  -^^  ^5iat  the  caret; 
ot  intellectual  ambition  is  in  most  cases  not  likely  to  be  hap- 

X  t/rex      •''  domestic  affection,  though  this  i^  no  reasTn 

nt    le  tual  disabilities  under  which  women  have  laboured, 

r  1  m/^  '  ^'^''^  ^''"  somewhat  overstated.  If  Shellev 
w  s  a  ch,d  to  Mi.  Mill,  as  Mr.  Mill  says,  no  "social  f!l 
^ilities  hindered  Mrs.  Mill  from  publishing  poems  which 
would  have   eclipsed   Shelley.      The  writer  once   hLrd  at 


'\ 


m 


W^ 


.( , 

1 

1 

'! 

232 


QUKSTIONS  OF  THE   DAY. 


ii 


1  i 


.'in 


Amorioan  lecturer  of  cminenno  confidently  ascribe  the  licen- 
tioUvSn(!s.s  of  J'jnglish  fiction  in  t\w  early  part  of  tht  last  century 
to  the  exclusion  of  women  from  literary  lift  The  lecturer 
forgot  tliat  the  most  popular  novelist  of  that  period,  and  cer- 
tainly not  the  least  licentious,  was  Mrs.  Aphra  Belin.  This 
lady's  name  suggests  th(!  remark  that  as  the  relations  of  the 
sexes  have  been  the  most  intimate  conceivable,  the  action  of 
character  has  been  reciprocal,  and  the  level  of  moral  ideas  and 
sentiments  for  botli  i)retty  much  tlie  same. 

Mill,  seeing  that  the  man  is  the  stronger,  seems  to  assume 
that  the  relations  between  man  and  woman  must  always  have 
been  regulated  by  the  law  of  the  strongest.  liut  strength  is 
not  tyranny.  The  protector  must  always  be  stronger  than  the 
person  under  his  protection.  A  mother  is  overwhelmingly 
superior  in  strength  to  her  infant  child,  and  the  child  is  com- 
pletely at  her  mercy.  The  very  higliest  conception  that 
humanity  has  ever  formed,  wliether  it  be  founded  in  reality  or 
not,  is  that  of  power  losing  itself  in  affection.  St.  I'aul  (who, 
on  anj'^  hypothesis  ;is  to  his  inspiration,  is  an  authoritative 
expositor  of  the  morality  which  became  that  of  Christendom) 
arilrms  with  perfect  clearness  the  essential  equality  of  the 
sexes  and  their  necessary  relations  to  each  other  as  the  two 
halves  of  humanity.  Yet  he  no  less  distinctly  ratifies  the 
unity  of  the  family,  the  autliority  of  its  liead,  and  the  female 
need  of  that  headship;  a  need  which,  sxipposing  it  to  be 
natural,  has  nothing  in  it  more  degrading  than  the  need  of 
protection.^ 

Subjection  is  a  word  of  sinister  import,  and  Mill,  in  adopt- 
ing it,  prejudices  the  question.  Subordination,  or  obedience, 
where  it  is  necessary,  iniplies  i\u  dis})aragement.  Nothing 
grates  on  ordinary  feelings  when  Beatrice,  in  "Much  Ado 
about  Nothing,"  says  that  she  "will  tame  her  wild  heart  to 
the  hand  "  of  the  man  whom  she  is  to  wed.  Not  the  soldier 
only,  but  most  of  us  have  some  one  whom  we  are  bound  to 
obey,  and  whom,  it  being  necessary,  we  obey  without  humilia- 
tion.    A  head  of  tlie  family  there  nnist  be  if  there  is  not  to 

1  1  Cor.  xi.,  7-12;    /•>>/(.  v.,  '.>2-;3;5 ;  Col.  iii.,  18. 


the  licen- 
st  (jontury 
('  lecturer 
1,  u,nd  cer- 
hii.  This 
•ns  of  the 
action  of 
ideas  and 

to  assume 
tvays  liave 
itrength  is 
r  than  the 
hehniiigly 
Id  is  corn- 
it  ion  that 
reality  or 
'aul  (who, 
;horitative 
•istendom) 
ity  of  the 
LS  the  two 
atifies  the 
bhe  female 
it  to  be 
le  need  of 

,  in  adopt- 
obedience, 
Nothing 
^fuch  Ado 
d  heart  to 
he  soldier 
bound  to 
it  humilia- 
i  is  not  to 


Woman  sui<fuagi:.  233 

bo  domestic  anarchy.     Children   n.ust  know  to  whom  their 
'•oedience  is  due.     Mill  proposes  that  the  authority  sliall  be 
divided  be  ween  the  husban.l  and  wife  in  the  n.arfiage  con- 
trac     and  that  the  subjects  in  whicli  each  is  to  be  supreme 
shall  be  set  out  in  a  schedule;  but  lu.  has  not  given  us  a  draft 
of  such  a   contract.     He  had   lums,.ir  no  children.     In  the 
wliole  of  this  movement  of  sexual  revoh.tion  the  family,  though 
It  ma,y  not,  with  anyone  but  a  Nihilist,  be  the  object  of  inten- 
tional or  conscious  attack,  is  practically  threatened  with  dis- 
so  ntion     One  Utopian  reformer,  as  we  have  seen,  proposes  not 
on  y  that  the  wi  e  shall  be  made  independent  of  the  husband, 
hut  that  the  children  shall  be  made  independent  of  the  parents! 
Enlranchise  women,"  says  Mr.  Hlair's  ]|(>port,  "or  this 
Kepubhc  will  steadily  advance  to  the  same  destruction,  the 
same  ignoble  and  tragic  catastrophe,  which  has  engulfed  the 
male  republics  of  history."     This  seems  to  imply  a  new  read- 
ing of  history,  according  to  whicli  republics  have  owed  their 
tall  to  their  masculine  character.     The  Greek  republics  were 
overwhelmed  by  the  Macedonian  monarchy,  their  surrender  to 
which  was  assuredly  not  due  to  excess  of  masculine  force. 
Ihe  Roman  republic  was  converted  by  the  vast  extension  of 
Koman  conquest  into  a  military  empire.     The  city  republican- 
is  u  of  the  Midd  e  Ages  was  crushed  by  the  great  monarchies, 
ilie  short-live.1  Commonwealth  of  England  owed  its  overthrow 
to  causes  which  certainly  lutd  nothing  to  do  with  sex.     The 
Swiss  republic,  the  American  re])ublic,  the  French  republic 
still  live,  so  do  several  constitutional  monarchies,  includinc^ 
Great  Britain  and  her  colonies,  whicli  are  republics  in  all  but 
name.     It  is  true  that  these  commonwealths,  though,  we  may 
hope,  less  directly  threaten.-d  with  tlie  wrath  of  heaven  than 
the  report  assumes  them  to  l)e,  are  yet  not  free  from  peril;  but 
their  peril  apparently  lies  in  the  passions,  the  giddiness,  the 
anarchical  tendencies  of  the  multitude,  and  ^vould  hardly  be 
averted  by  opening  another  iioodgate  and  letting  in  all  at  once 
tiie  tuU  tide  of  feminine  emotion. 

Woman  if  she  l^ecomes  a  man,  will  be  a  weaker  man.     Yet 
she  must  be  prepared  to  resign  her  privileges  as  a  woman. 


H 


•j;»4 


gi'r.srioN.s  oi'  i'iik  day. 


iJ   fi.'  i 


f . ' 


Mi 


lM'ivil«'j»o  and  (>(|U!ilikv  at,  (»n(M<  sho  cannot  hyiio  to  hnvo.  To 
(K»n  tlicotlu-r  sex  sli(<  mnsl  .lolT  licr  own,  a  proccsTin  which  sho 
ill  run  some  risk  ol'  ccasini;  (<»  Itc,  or  at  least  to  lie  deemed, 
e  "an-,M'lic  iM.ition  »»i'  Inunanity."     l<'or  the  time,  jterhaps, 


li!tng(> 


Ol 


w 

th 

the  ancient  siMitiment  mi;;ht  linger;  but  the  total  <'l 
relations  w<Mild  in  the  end  hrin,u:a.chan,i;c  ol'  reelin|.r.  (Ihivalry 
(h'pends  on  th(>  acknowh>d},'ed  need  of  protection,  and  what  is 
accorded  to  a.  p'ulle  helpmate  would  not  he  accor(l(<d  t(»a  rival. 
Man  would  not  he  hound  nor  inclined  to  treat  with  tenderness 
and  l\)rhearinij;  tiie  [(eiujj;  who  was  josllii\};  with  him  in  all  the 
walks  ol'  lil'e,  wranj;lini,'  with  him  in  the  law  courts,  wrestlin;^ 
with  him  on  tlu'  stumj),  maiKiuivriui,'  a|,'ainst  him  in  elections, 
iKigi^linK'  will*  Idni  on  '(Mianj,'e  or  in  Wall  Street.  Take  mere 
sex  apart  I'roui  character,  and  theri>  will  he  nothinjj;  in  the  i'emale 
of  th(>  human  speci(>s  more  than  in  the  I'emale  of  any  other 
species  to  command  our  respi«c|,  or  devotion.  Aphrodite,  in 
her  heart,  perhaps  Hatters  luM'self  that  her  Cestus  will  pn  servo 
her  privilejj;e,  whih>  she  ,<,'ains  the  advantaijje  of  cipiality.  So 
much  poetry  has  lictMi  addn>sst>d  to  her  ti.at  she  mav  well  li(> 
oxcnsed  I'or  not  rormin-;  a  prosaic  estimate  of  the  prohahle 
ri'sults.  I'.ut  the  (uitspoken  Schoiicnhauer  has  told  lu'r  tliat 
beauty  is  rarer  in  her  sex  than  in  the  oIIum-.      It  takes  imuc  to 


make  a  beautiful  woman  than  a  handsonu* 


ujan. 


or  1 1 


lis  we 


may  be  surt\  that  the  attractions  of  womt>n  j^cmM-allv  d  'pcnd 
upon  their  beini;  wonuMi.  Mrs.  Mill,  be  it  observed,  remaiu(Ml 
a  woman.  If  she  had  jnit  on  her  wi-j;  and  gown  to  go  into 
court  and  cross-examine  witnesses,  or  had  stood  against  her 
husband  for  Westminster,  we  should  have  setMi  the  great 
exp»'riment  n'ally  tried.  That  she  has  had  social  advantages 
while  she  has  lain  umler  political  disabilities,  woman,  espe- 
cially in  .VimM'ica,  can  hardly  d«Miy;  her  sex  has  been  an  object 
of  respcet,  sometimes  of  a  worship  almost  fatuous,  irrespective 
of  her  personal  tiualities.  This  is  partly  traceable  to  histori- 
cal ai'cident.  donathan  Dldbuck  is  a  cynic,  but  ho  is  not  far 
wrong  in  saying  that  it  was  by  tlu>  fantastic  imagination  of 
chivalry  that  Dnlcineas  were  i>xaltcd  into  despotic  goddesses. 
He  might  have  adilcd  that  Mariolatry  had  played  its  part. 


T 


Imvc.  Ill 
I  which slio 
ti'  (Icciucd, 
',  piMliiips, 

('h;uifj;i>  of 

(Chivalry 

11(1  vvhiit.  iH 

I  In  !i  rival. 

t.('i»ih>nu'sa 

I  ill  all  l.ho 
WTt'stliiii;: 
«'l(«('t  ions, 

I'aUt'  nu'rc 
the  I'tMualo 
any  oilier 
liroditc,  in 

II  pn  servo 
iility.  So 
ay  well  lie 
'  proltahlc 
I  her  that, 
I's  niorc  lo 
)r  this  we 
ly  (I.>p(Mi(l 

n'lnaiiuMl 
o  i;t>  into 
j;ainst  Ihm- 
the  L;-V('at 
(Ivantagos 
nan,  esju>- 

an  ()l)jt»('t 
rospoctivo 
lo  histori- 
is  not  far 
illation  of 
fodilossos. 

part. 


WOMAN   SUFKHAOK. 


cat 


It  is  avcrrorl  that  women, 

inot  take  an   interest  in   piihlic  alTairs.      It! 


unless  they  share  political  j 


-'.'{f) 


lower, 


las  ovi^n  \wv\i 


said  that  they  cannot  read  history.     That  they  can  not  only 


read  lint  wrili«  history  experience  si 


many  of  them  do  take  int(«rest  in  piihlii-  jifl 
politics   the   whole   liidd   of   cliaril 


lows.      It  shows  also  that 


reform  invites  their  ai^ti 
»f 


airs.      Apart  from 
y,   l>eiiev(denee,  and   social 


<>'>•      111  it  tiiey  lia,v(^  produced  a  t 


rain 


le  same  liidd  is  pre 


<»f  worthies  such  as  Miss  Nij^htiiiKale,  and  tl 
r.«rr..d  l.y  many  (.f  the  hest  men,  wj,,,  shrink  fnun  tlie  political 
iiivna  in  its  presiMit  state.  IN. lilies.  i,rtr,.  ;,|l,  :,,v  not  the 
^Mvatest  part  of  life.  It  was  niuh-r  tlit*  despotism  <.r  a,  foreign 
compu-ror  that  Christianity  caine  into  the  world. 

Tho   far  western    State  of  Wyoiiiiiii^r,  t|„.   minin-  State  of 
Colorado,  and    New   Zealand    liav.^   made   the  experiment  of 


Oman's  SnlTrai;e.      laM,  them  fairly  try  it,  and  if  tl 


W 

is  j,'ood,  let  the   rest    <d'  the  world  foil 
actiot 


he  resnlt 


1.  VXi'i 


new  (> 


ow.      in  every  field  of 
pt  thai  of  politics,  use  is  made  of  experiment.     A 


tit,Mtie  is  tested  ludoiv  it  is  put  on  all  tluM'ail 


ways  or  into 


all  the  st,eaiiisliips.      A  new  medicine,  however  promisinj,',  is 
tried  in  one  or  two  ca.ses  before,  it  is  appli(>(l  nni 


in  airship  were  inventiul,  aeronauts  would  l.o  called 


versally.      ff 


upon  to 


|n-ovo  its  saf(>ty  before  all  th(>  world  ascended.     Hut  in  politics 
sweepin-  chaiiKt'S  are  irrevocably  made  upon  the  strength  of 
what  even  an  advocate  of  the  chaii-e,  if  he  had  any  fairness  of 
mmd,  would  allow  to  be  a,  mere  balance  of  ari,mment  in  its 
favour.      Had  extensions  of  the  suifra-e,  or  cl'ianges  in  tho 
form  of  local  government  Iuumi  tried  in  one  or  two  districts  or 
cities  first,  a  i)auso  of  salutary  reflection  might  have  ensued. 
I'.ut  political  changes,  for  the  most  part,  are  the  result  of  con- 
tlict,  not  of  irasoning;   of  the  desire  of  a  class  or  i)arty  for 
power,  not  of  broad  conviction  as  to  the  public  good.    Woman's 
Suffrage  is  a  change  fraught  with  the  most  momentous  results, 
not  only  to  the  commonwealth,  but  to  the  household.     Let 
Wyoming,  Colorado,  and  New  Zealand  give  it  a  full  trial. 
The   success   of   the  Wyoming   experiment   is   publicly  pro- 
claimed, and  the  universe  is  exhorted  to  go  and  do  likewise 
by  Wyoming,    whose   voice    is    that   of   the    female   voters. 


!li|.. 


•Jli 


lili: 


, '  ,M:! 


,( 


M 


2.36 


QUESTIONS   OF   THE    DAY. 


m 


U 


«■  i 


I 


Other  accounts  .are  not  so  favourable,*  nor  have  neighbouring 
States,  which  must  have  the  clearest  view  of  the  results,  been 
induced  to  follow  the  example.  In  Nebraska,  in  spite  of  a 
laborious  canvass  headed  by  Miss  Susan  B.  Anthony,  Woman 
Suifrage  was  defeated  by  two  to  one.^  To  Wyoming  and  Col- 
orado, Woman's  Suffrage  in  the  United  States  remains  confined. 
The  New  Zealand  experiment  will  be  more  satisfactory,  though 
New  Zealand,  having  no  warlike  neighbours,  does  not  run  the 
same  risk  in  emasculating  her  government  which  is  run  by 
a  European  State.  If  after  effectual  trial  it  appears  from 
the  experiments  that  legislation  and  government  have  become 
Aviser,  more  far-sighted,  and  more  just,  without  any  detri- 
ment to  the  peace  and  order  of  the  home,  let  the  world 
follow  the  example,  and  be  grateful  to  those  by  whom  the  first 
experiment  was  made. 

At  the  present  juncture  in  Europe  sexual  revolution  would 
be  especially  perilous.  Among  other  things  tendency  to  the 
personal  ascendancy  of  great  demagogues,  which  has  shown 
itself  as  a  result  of  the  enfranchisement  of  masses  ignorant  of 
political  principles  and  questions,  could  not  fail  to  be  aggravated 
by  the  enfranchisement  of  all  the  women,  the  inclination  of  the 
sex  being  to  personal  rather  than  constitutional  government. 
In  France,  with  Woman  Suffrage,  the  Eepublic  could  hardly 
live. 

Mr.  Blair's  Report  ends  by  saying  that  men  can  have  no 
motive  for  refusing  the  suffrage  to  women  but  the  selfish  one 
of  unwillingness  to  part  with  half  of  the  sovereign  power. 
Selfishness  in  this  matter  would  undoubtedly  be  not  only 
wickedness  but  folly.  What  is  good  for  woman  is  good  in  the 
same  measure  for  man,  and  ought  not  to  be  withheld.  One 
lady  in  lior  evidence  Avarns  Congress,  if  it  will  not  give  way, 
that  the  wild  enthusiasm  of  woman  can  be  used  for  evil  as  well 
as  good,  and  threatens  in  America  a  repetition  of  the  scenes  of 
the  French  Commune.  More  terrible  even  than  this  menace 
is  the  fear  of  doing  an  injury  to  man's  partner,  and  thereby  a 

1  See  the  paper  by  Governor  Crounse  of  Nebraska,  North  American 
Review,  June,  1894.  ^  n^i^^ 


1  .. 


WOMAN   SUFFRACxE. 


237 


iighbouring 
esiilts,  been 
spite  of  a 
ay,  Woman 
Qg  and  Col- 
as confined, 
ory,  though 
not  run  the 
L  is  run  by 
pears  from 
ave  become 
any  detri- 
the  worhl 
Dm  the  first 

it  ion  would 
mcy  to  the 
has  shown 
ignorant  of 
aggravated 
ition  of  the 
overnment. 
luld  hardly 

in  have  no 
selfish  one 
ign  power. 
;  not  only 
good  in  the 
held.  One 
j  give  way, 
evi"!  as  well 
e  Scenes  of 
liis  menace 
i  thereby  a 

'th  American 


deeper  injury  to  man  himself.     But  the  change  ought  to  be 
proved   good.      Before   man   hands   over  the  government  to 
woman,  lie  ought  to  be  satisfied  that  he  cannot  do  what  is  ri<rht 
himself.     In  an  age  of  "  flabby  "  sentiment  and  servile  worship 
of  change,  we  have  had  enough  of  weak  and  precipitate  sur- 
renders.    It  was  to  weak  and  ju-ecipitate  surrender  that  tlie 
world  owed  the  French  Revolution  and  the  deluge  of  calamity 
which  followed.     To  man,  as  he  alone  could  enforce  the  law, 
the  sovereign  power  came  naturally  and  rigliteously.     Let  him 
see  whether  he  cannot  make  a  just  use  of  it,  in.  the  interest  of 
his  wife  and  children  as  well  as  in  his  own,  before  he  sends  in 
his  resignation. 

But  in  the  rage  of  tlie  universal  faction  fight  the  voice  of 
prudence  is  drowned,  and  the  world  is  hurried  from  change  to 
change,  not  by  conviction,  imt  by  the  exigencies  and  accidents 
of  the  party  strife.     A  New  Zealander,  writing  in  the  Fort- 
nightly Review,^  gives  us  his  acciount  of  the  way  in  which 
female  suffrage  was  carried.     Only  a  few  "wild  women,"  he 
says,  so  far  as  he  by  careful  inquiry  could  ascertain,  really 
desired  it,  tliough  thousands  were  induced  to  sign  tlie  petition. 
But  some  Conservative  politicians  thought  it  would  stren.>-then 
their  party.      The   Proliibitionists —  never  caring  what'may 
happen  to  the  commonwealtli  so  long  as  tliey  carry  their  own 
measure  —  were  most  strenuous  in  favour  of  the  ch ange.    Thus 
the  measure  slipped  tlirough  tlie  House  of  Representatives. 
It  would,  according  to  the  writer,  have  Ijeen  thrown  out  by  the 
Legislative  Council  had  not  one  or  two  of  the  members  of  that 
Council  wished  to  embarrass  the  Ministry.     So   a   measure 
"  which  no  one  but  a  few  fanatics  and  a  few  Conservative  politi- 
cians really  desired,  and  which  at  the  least  ninety-five  per  cent, 
of  the  population  neither  desired  nor  approved  of  was  passed 
into   law."     So  it  will  be  elsewhere,  and  a  political  change, 
far  more   momentous   than  any   extension  of  the  male  fran- 
chise, will  be  forced  on  one  community  after  another  by  the 
fanaticism  of  Prohibitionists,  aided  by  the  shifty  politicians, 
and  the  desire  or  fear  of  votes.     The  reception  of  Wyoming  as 

'  February,  1894. 


'\.^'' 


\\V 


*  ^ 


n 


i     in 


iii 


'I 
I 


238 


QUESTIONS  OF  THE   DAY. 


it 


a  State  with  a  female  constitution  was  strongly  resisted  in 
Congress  and  was  carried,  it  is  believed,  through  the  need  felt 
by  a  political  party  of  two  more  Senatorial  votes.  Every 
demand  for  an  extension  of  the  suffrage  is  pretty  sure  in  like 
manner  to  prevail.  When  to  all  the  existing  masses  of  the 
electorate,  with  its  medley  of  sections,  interests,  and  agita- 
tions, has  been  added  the  whole  female  sex  with  emotions, 
passions,  objects,  and  issues  of  its  own,  and  with  the  new  order 
of  demagogism  to  which  it  is  sure  to  giv^e  birth,  the  system  of 
demagogic  and  party  government  will  have  reached  its  climax, 
and  the  world  may  be  led  to  consider  whether  to  escape  con- 
fusion it  will  not  be  necessary  to  set  up  in  one  form  or  another 
a  strong,  stable,  and  impartial  government. 


esisted  in 
I  need  felt 
s.  Every 
re  in  like 
3es  of  the 
md  agita- 
emotions, 
new  order 
system  of 
ts  climax, 
scape  con- 
Dr  another 


i(i 


!■'!■ 


U, ' 

^ 

;!iJl!'l 

..;' 

( 

^1 

i 

: 
i 

I 

I, 

\i^fa 


i  'a  : 


THE  JEWISH   QUESTION. 


i; 

1 

^■i^i' 

t 

i 

^^^■'  ^' 

^^^^■J    i 

1.    ■ 

1: 

l-ij: 


m 


THE  JEWISH   QUESTION. 

Jewish  ascendancy  and  the  anti-Semitic  movement  provoked 
by  It  form  an  important  feature  of  the  European  situation,  and 
are  beginning  to  excite  attention  in  America.      Mr.  Arnold 
White,  Baron  Hirsch's  commissioner,  says,  in  a  plea  for  the 
luissian   Jews,i   that   "almost   without   exception   the   press 
throughout  Europe  is  in  Jewish  hands,  and  is  largely  produced 
l^  Jewish  brains";  that  ''international  finance  is  captive  to 
Jewish  energy  and  skill";  tliat  in  England  the  fall  of  the 
Barings  has  left  tlio  house  of  llothschild  alone  in  its  supremacy  • 
and  that  in  every  line  the  Je\vs  are  fast  becoming  our  masters.' 
Wind  and  tide,  in  a  money-loving  age,  are  in  favour  of  the 
hnancial  race.     At  the  same  time  the  anti-Semitic  movement 
gains  ground.     From  Russia,  Germany,  Austria,  and  the  Dan- 
ubian  Principalities  it  spreads  to  the  Ionian  Islands;  it  has 
broken  out  in  France;  symptoms  of  it  have  appeared  even  in 
the  United  States.     Yet  there  is  a  persistent  misapprehension 
of  the  real  nature  of  the  agitation.     It  is  assumed  that  the 
quarrel  is  religious.     The  anti-Semites  are  supposed  to  be  a 
party  of  fanatics  renewing  the   persecutions  to  which  the 
Jews  were  exposed  on  account  of  their  faith  in  the  dark  a^^os 
and  every  one  who,  handling  the  question  critically,  fails  to 
show  undivided  sympathy  with  the  Israelites  is  set  down  as  a 
religious  persecutor.     The  Jews  naturally  foster  this  impres- 
sion, and,  as  Mr.  Arnold  White  tells  us,  the  press  of  Europe 
is  in  their  hands.  ^ 

In  1880,  anti-Semitic  disturbances  broke  out  in  Russia      A 
narrative  of  them  entitled  "The  Persecution  of  the  Jews  in 

May','i?92.'^'''*^  ''^'''*  '^''  ^'''''''"  ^"""'^  '"  '^''  Contemporary  lievino, 

241 


w 


f'  I  i 


I   : 


i 


Jl 


242 


QUESTIONS   OF    rilK    DAV 


•I 


ll 


i:^' 


1 '  ■ 
i; 

' '  ■'.' 

/ 

/  ' 

1 

i4i; 


;i 


f; 

1 

1 

Kussia,"'  was  put  forth  by  the  Jewish  community  in  England 
as  an  appeal  to  the  ]>ritish  heart.  In  that  narrative  the 
Kussian  Cliristians  were  eliarged  with  having  coiniuitted  the 
most  fiendish  atrocities  on  the  most  enormous  s(!ale.  A  tract 
of  country  0([ual  in  area  to  tlic  British  Islands  and  France 
combined  had,  it  was  averred,  been  the  scene  of  horrors  there- 
tofore ])erpetra,ted  only  in  times  of  war.  Men  had  been  ruth- 
lessly nmrdered,  temler  infants  had  been  dashed  on  the  stones 
or  roasted  alive  in  their  own  homos,  married  women  had  been 
made  the  prey  of  a  brutal  lust  which  had  in  many  cases  caused 
their  death,  and  young  girls  had  been  violated  in  sight  of  their 
relatives  by  soldiers  who  should  have  been  guardians  of  their 
lionour.  Whole  streets  inhabited  by  Jews  had  been  razed,  and 
the  Jewish  quarters  of  towns  had  been  systematically  fired. 
In  one  place,  Elizabethgrad,  thirty  Jewesses  at  once  had  been 
oiitraged,  two  young  girls  in  dread  of  violation  had  thrown 
themselves  from  the  windows,  and  an  old  man,  who  was 
attempting  to  save  his  daughter  from  a  fate  worse  than  death, 
had  been  flung  from  the  roof,  while  twenty  soldiers  proceeded 
to  work  their  will  on  the  maiden.  This  was  a  specimen  of 
atrocities  which  had  been  committed  over  the  whole  area. 
The  most  atrocious  charge  of  all  was  that  against  the  Christian 
women  of  Russia,  who  were  accused  of  assisting  their  friends 
to  violate  the  Jewesses  by  holding  the  victims  down,  their 
motive  being,  as  the  manifesto  suggests,  jealousy  of  the 
superiority  of  the  Jewesses  in  dress.  The  government  was 
charged  with  criminal  sympathy,  the  local  authorities  generally 
with  criminal  inaction,  and  some  of  the  troops  with  active 
participation. 

The  British  heart  responded  to  the  appeal.  Great  public 
meetings  were  held,  at  one  of  which  the  Archbishop  of  Canter- 
bury, with  a  Roman  Cardinal,  as  the  representative  of  religious 
liberty  in  general,  and  especially  of  opposition  to  Jew-burning, 
at  his  side,  denounced  the  persecuting  bigotry  of  the  Russian 
Christians.     Indignant  addresses  were  largely  signed.     Russia 


^Persecution  of  the  Jews  in   liiissia,    1881. 
Times. 


lleprinted   from    The 


THE  JEWISH   QUESTION. 


243 


in  England 
rrativo  the 
nuitted  the 
'.  A  tract 
md  France 
rrors  there- 
.  been  rutli- 
i  the  stones 
sn  liad  been 
ases  caused 
jht  of  their 
ns  of  their 
I  razed,  and 
cally  fired. 
36  had  been 
lad  thrown 
,  who  was 
than  death, 
5  proceeded 
pecimen  of 
diole  area, 
le  Christian 
leir  friends 
lown,  their 
isy  of  the 
nment  was 
;s  generally 
-vith  active 

reat  public 
I  of  Canter- 
oi  religious 
w-burning, 
he  Eussian 
d.     Russia 

i   from    The 


was  accused  of  re-enacting  the  worst  crimes  of  the  Middle 
Ages  It  was  taken  for  granted  on  all  sides  that  religious 
fanaticism  was  the  cause  of  the  riots. 

Russia  as  usual,  was  silent.     Bnt  the  British  government 
directed  Its  consuls  at  tlie  different  points  to  report  upon  the 
iacts.      Lhe  reports  composed  two  Blue  Books,'  in  which,  as 
very  few  probably  took   the   pains   to   look   into   them,  the 
unpopular   truth    lies    buried.      Those    who    did   read    ihem 
learned,  in  the  first  place,  that  though  the  riots  were  deplor- 
able and  criminal,  the   Jewish   account   was    in   most   cases 
exaggerated,  and   in   some   to  an   extravagant   extent.     The 
damage  to  Jewish  property  at  Odessa,  rated  in  the  Jewish 
account  at  1,137,381  roubles,  or,  according  to  their  higher 
estimatos,  3,00l, COO  roubles,  was  rated,  Consul-General  Stanley 
tells  us,  by  a  respectable  Jew  on  the  spot  at  o(),()()0  roubles 
while   the  Consul-General   himself  rates   it  at  20,000      At 
J^lizabethgrad,   instead  of  whole   streets  being  razed  to  the 
ground,  only  one  hut  had  been  unroofed.     It  appeared  that 
lew  Jews,  if  any,  had  been  intentionally  killed,  though  some 
•lied  o+  injuries  received  in  the  riots.     There  were  conflicts 
between  the  Jews  who  defended  their  houses  and  the  rioters 
i  he  outrages  on  women,  by  which  public  indignation  in  Eng- 
and  had  been  most  fiercely  aroused,  and  of  which,  accordin.^ 
0  tlie  Jewish  accounts,  there  had  been  a  frightful  number,  no 
less  than   thirty  in  one   place   and  twenty-five    in   another 
appeared,  after  careful  inquiries  by  the  consuls,  to  have  been 
very  rare.     This  is  the  more  remarkable  because  the  riots 
.commonly  began  with  the  sacking  of  the  gin  shops,  which  were 
kept  by  the  Jews,  so  that  the  passions  of  the  mob  must  have 
been  inflamed  by  drink.     The  horrible  charge  brought  in  the 
Jewish    manifesto    against   the    Russian   women,   of   having 
incited  men  to  outrage  Jewesses  and  held  the  Jewesses  down 
IS  found  to  be  utterly  baseless.     The  charge  of  roasting  chil- 
dren ahve  also  falls  to  the  ground.     So  does  th.   charge  of 
violating  a  Jew's  wife  and  then  setting  fire  to  his  house.     The 

and  2'm2'7str  '"'''''''"'  '''   ''''"""'"'  '•'" ''"'"'  '"  ^"•"'«'  ^««-  ' 


m 

•\]i 


; '  J  n 


,'  I 


214 


QUKSTIONS  OF  TIIK    DAY 


m 


ui 


I       ! 


Jewish  manifesto  stutos  that  a  Jowisli  iiiiikccpor  was  cooped 
in  one  of  liis  own  barrels  and  cast  into  the  Dnieper.  This 
turns  out  to  hi;  a  i'able,  the  vilhige  whicli  was  the  alleged  scene 
oi'  it  being  ten  miles  from  tlu^  Dnieper  and  near  no  other  river 
of  consequencH".  The  Jlussian  peasant,  Christian  though  ho 
may  be,  is  entitled  to  justice.  As  a  rule,  while  ignorant  and 
often  intemperate,  he  is  good-natured.  Tliere  was  much 
brutality  in  his  riot,  but  fiendish  atrocity  there  was  not,  and 
if  he  struck  savagely,  perhai)S  he  had  suffered  long.  For  the 
belief  that  the  mob,  was  "doing  the  will  of  the  Tsar,"  in  other 
words,  tliat  the  government  was  at  the  bottom  of  the  rising, 
there  does  not  appear  to  have  been  a  shadow  of  foundation. 
The  action  of  the  authorities  was  not  in  all  cases  ecjually 
prompt.  In  some  cases  it  was  (Uilpably  slack.  At  Warsaw 
the  commandant  ludd  back,  though  as  Lord  Granville,  the 
British  ambassador,  bears  witiu'ss,  his  motive  for  hesitation 
was  humanity.  Ihit  numy  of  the  rioters  were  shot  down  or 
bayoneted  by  tlie  troops,  hundreds  were  flogged,  some  were 
imprisoned,  and  some  were  sent  to  Siberia.  That  any  of  the 
military  took  part  in  the  riots  seems  to  be  a  hction.  It  was 
not  lik(dy  that  the  liussian  government,  menaced  as  it  is  by 
revolutionary  conspiracy,  would  encourage  insurrection.  Peo- 
ple of  the  upper  class,  who  fancied  that  in  the  agitation  they 
saw  the  work  of  Socialists,  though  they  niight  dislike  the 
Jews,  would  hardly  symjjathise  with  the  rioters.  Efforts  v/ere 
made  by  the  government  to  restore  Je^v  ish  property,  and  hand- 
some sums  were  subscribed  for  the  relief  of  the  sufferers.  Yet 
those  who,  Avhile  they  heartily  condemned  outrage,  were  will- 
ing to  accept  proof  that  tlie  Christian  men  and  women  of 
Russia  had  not  be);  ved  like  demons,  were  saluted  as  modern 
counterparts  of  Haman  by  an  eminent  Rabbi,  who,  if  the 
objects  of  his  strictures  had  cared  to  retort,  might  have  been 
asked  whether  the  crucifixion  of  Hanum's  ten  sons  and  the 
slaughter  of  seventy-five  thousand  of  the  enemies  of  Israel  in 
one  day,  which,  after  the  lapse  of  so  many  centuries,  the  feast 
of  Purim  still  joyously  commemorates,  were  not  horrors  as 
great  as  any  which  have  been  shown  to  have  actually  occurred 
at  Odessa  or  Elizabethgrad. 


TIIK  JEWISH  QUESTION. 


24i 


was  cooped 
L!per.  Tliis 
leged  scene 
other  river 
thougli  lie 
juoraiit  and 
was  much 
'as  not,  and 
Lf.  For  the 
r,"  in  other 
the  rising, 
foundation, 
ses  ecjually 
At  Warsaw 
mville,  the 
•  hesitation 
ot  down  or 
some  were 
any  of  the 
jn.  It  was 
as  it  is  by 
tion.  Peo- 
itation  they 
dislike  the 
Efforts  v.-ere 
,  and  hand- 
Brers.  Yet 
,  were  will- 
women  of 
as  modern 
dio,  if  the 
t  have  been 
lis  and  the 
3f  Israel  in 
!S,  the  feast 
horrors  as 
ly  occurred 


rhe  most  important  part  (,f  the  evidence  given  in  tlie  con- 
suls   reports,  liowever,  is  that  whi.^h  relates  to  the  cause  of 
he  troubles.     At  Warsaw,  where  the  p.ople  are  Roman  Catho- 
lics, there  appears  to  have  been  a  certain  amount  ol"  passive 
sympathy   with   th,.    insurgents  on   religious   grounds.      lUit 
everywhere  else  the  coneurnnit  testimony  of  the  consuls  is 
that  the  source  of  the  agitation  was  economical  and  social,  not 
■vligious.     I}.tt.u-ness  produced  by  the  exactions  of  the  Jew, 
envy  of  his  wealth,  irritation  at  the  display  of  it  in  such  things 
as  the  hue  dresses  of  his  women,  jealousy  of  his  ascendancy, 
(iombmed  m  the  lowest  of  the  mob  with  the  love  of  plunder 
were  the  motives  of  the  people  for  attacking  him,  not  hatred  of 
las  faith.     Vice-consul  Wagstaff,  who  seems  to  have  paid  par- 
ticular attention  to  the  (piestion  and  made  the  most  careful 
in.iuiry,  alter  paying  a  tribute  to  the  sober,  laborious,  thrifty 
character  and  the  superior  intelligeiuie  of  the  Jew,  and  ascrib- 
lug  to  these  his  increasing  monopoly  of  commerce,  proceeds: 

''It  is  chiefly  as  brokers  or  middlemen  tliat  the  Jews  are  so  promi- 
nent.    Seldom  a  business  transaction  of  any  kind  takes  place  without 
their  intervention,  and  from  both  sides  they  receive  compensation     To 
enmnerate  some  of  their  other  occupations,  constantly  denounced  bv  the 
public:  they  are  the  principal  dealers  in  spirits;  keepers  of  'vodka' 
drinking)   shops  and  houses  of  ill-fame  ;   receivers  of  stolen  goods  • 
1  legal  pawnbrokers  and  usurers.     A  branch  they  also  succeed  in  is  as 
government  contractors.     With  their  knowledge  of  handling  money,  they 
collude  with  unscrupulous  officials  in  defrauding  the  State  to  vast  amounts 
annually.     In  fact,  the  malpractices  of  some  of  the  Jewish  community 
have  a  bad  influenco  on  those  whom  they  come  in  contact  with.    It  must 
however,  be  said  that  there  are  many  well  educated,  highly  respectable,' 
and  honourable  Jews  in  Russia,  but  they  form  a  small  minority.     This 
class  IS  not  treated  upon  in  this  paper.     They  thoroughly  condemn  the 
occupations  of  their  losver  brethren,  and  one  of  the  results  of  the  late 
disturbances  is  noticed  in  the  movement  at  present  amongst  the  Jews. 
1  hey  themselves  acknowledge  the  abuses  practised  by  some  of  their  own 
members,  and  suggest  remedial  measures  to  allay  the  irritation  existing 
among  the  working  classes. 

"Another  thing  the  Jews  are  accused  of  is  that  there  exists  amon- 
them  a  system  of  boycotting ;  they  use  their  religion  for  business  pur! 
poses.    Ihis  IS  expressed  by  the  words  '  koul,'  or  '  kagal,'  and  '  kherim  ' 


•    .5   II 


ill 


i 


u 


:t| 


2M\ 


(iUKSTIONS  OF  TIIK   DAY. 


/    : 


Mi 


■Jl 


m 


Iti'l 


!'  ' 


/ 

1 

! 
■    1               t 

f 

1 

i      1 

1 

1  1 

'' 

' 

* 

V 

■^■i' 

^ 

For  instance,  in  Hcsaarabia,  tlie  produco  of  a  vineyard  is  drawn  for  by 
lot,  and  falls,  .say  to  Jabob  Levy  ;  tlio  otber  Jews  of  the  district  cannot 
compete  with  Levy,  who  buys  the  wine  at  his  own  price.  In  the  leasing 
by  anctiou  ol  government  and  provincial  lands.  It  is  invariably  a  Jew 
who  outl.iid^i  tlie  others  and  afterwards  re-lets  plots  to  the  peasantry  at 
exorbilani  prices.  Very  crying  abuses  ot  farming  out  land  have  lately 
come  to  light  and  greatly  shi  eked  pub  ^  opinion.  Agahi,  where  estates 
are  farmed  by  Jews,  it  i^,  distressing  to  see  the  pitiable  condition  in 
which  they  iviv.  lianded  over  on  the  expiration  of  the  lease.  Experience 
also  shows  they  are  very  bad  colonists. 

"  Their  fame  as  usurers  id  well  known,  (iiven  a  Jewish  recruit  with 
a  few  roubles'  capital,  it  can  be  worked  out,  mathematically,  what  time  it 
will  take  him  to  become  tlie  money-lender  of  his  company  or  regiment, 
from  the  drummer  to  the  colonel.  Take  tlie  case  of  a  peasant :  if  he 
once  gets  into  the  hands  of  this  class,  he  is  irretrievably  lost.  The  pro- 
prietor, ill  his  turn,  from  a  small  loan  gradually  mortgages  and  eventually 
lo.ses  his  estate.  A  great  deal  of  landed  property  in  south  Itussia  has  of 
late  years  passed  into  the  hands  of  the  Israelites,  but  principally  into  the 
hands  of  intelligent  and  sober  peasants. 

"  From  first  to  last,  the  Jew  has  his  hand  in  everything.  lie  advances 
the  seed  for  sowing,  which  is  generally  returned  in  kind  —  quarters  for 
bushels.  As  harvest  time  comes  round,  money  is  required  to  gather  in 
the  crops.  This  is  sometimes  advanced  on  liaid  conditions  ;  but  the 
peasant  has  no  choice  ;  there  is  no  one  to  lend  him  money,  and  it  is 
better  to  secure  something  than  to  lose  all.  Very  often  the  Jew  buys  the 
whole  crop  as  it  stands  in  the  field  on  his  own  terms.  It  is  thus  seen 
that  they  themselves  do  not  raise  agricultural  products,  but  they  reap  the 
benefits  of  others'  labour,  and  steadily  become  rich,  while  proprietors  are 
gradually  getting  ruined.  In  their  relation  to  Russia  they  are  compared 
to  parasites  that  have  settled  on  a  plant  not  vigorous  enough  to  throw 
them  off,  and  which  is  being  sapped  of  its  vitality."  ^ 

The  peasants,  the  vice-consul  tells  us,  often  say,  when  they 
look  at  the  property  of  a  Jew,  "Tliat  is  my  blood."  In  con- 
firmation of  his  view  he  cites  the  list  of  demands  formulated 
by  the  peasants  and  laid  before  a  mixed  committee  of  inquiry 
into  tlie  causes  of  the  disorder.  These  demands  are  all 
economical  or  social,  with  the  exception  of  the  complaint  that 
Russian  girls  in  Jewish  service  forget  their  religion  and  with 

^  Correspondence  respecting  the  Treatment  of  Jews  in  Eussia,  No.  1, 
pp.  11,  12. 


THE  JKWiSir  QUESTION. 


247 


tssta,  No.  ], 


it  lose  their  morals.  Kvcrytliinir,  in  short,  seems  to  bear  out 
the  stat(mu'iit  ol'  the  Russian  Minister  of  the  Interior,  in  a 
manifesto  given  in  the  Blue  Hook,  that  "the  movement  had  its 
main  cause  in  cirennistances  i)urely  economical";  provided 
that  to  "ectmomical"  we  add  "so(ual,"  and  in(dudtj  all  that  is 
meant  by  tlie  phrase  "hatred  of  Jewish  usurpation,"  used  in 
another  document. 

Viee-Consul  Harford,  at  Sebastopol,  is  in  (^ontact  with  the 
Jews  of  the  Crimea,  who,  he  says,  are  of  a  superior  order, 
while  some  of  them  are  not  Talmudie  Jews,  but  belong  to  the 
mild  and  Scrii)tural  sect  of  the  Karaites.  He  says  that  in  his 
quarter  all  goes  Avell. 

"Tho  spirit  of  antagonism  that  animates  tiie  Russian  against  tlio  Jew 
is,  in  my  oi)ini()n,  in  no  way  to  b(!  traci-d  to  tiu;  dilYorence  of  crocd.  In 
tliis  part  of  Russia,  wliere  we  iiav(!  moro  clfnijininations  of  reli-ion  tiian 
in  any  other  part,  I  have  never,  during  a  residence  of  fourt('en  years, 
observed  tlie  sliglitcist  indication  or  sectarianism  in  any  class.  Tlie  peas- 
ant,  thougli  ignorant  and  superstitious,  is  so  entirely  free  from  1)i-otry 
that  even  the  openly  displayed  contempt  of  tho  fanatical  Mohamim'daii 
Crim  Tartar  for  tho  rites  and  ceremonies  of  the  Russian  Ciiureh  fails 
to  excite  in  him  tho  slightest  feeling  of  personal  iuiimosity  ;  his  own 
feeling  with  regard  to  other  religions  is  perfect  indifference  ;  he  enters  a 
mosque  or  synagogue  just  as  he  would  enter  a  theatre,  and  regards  the 
ceremony  in  much  the  same  manner  that  an  English  peasant  would, 
neither  knowing  nor  caring  to  know  whether  they  worshipped  (Jod  or  the 
moon.  As  it  is  evident  from  this  that  race  and  creed  are  to  the  minds  of 
the  peasantry  of  no  more  consequence  thaii  they  would  be  to  a  Zulu,  the 
only  conclusion  is  that  the  anti|).iiy  is  against  the  usurer,  and  as  civil- 
isation can  only  be  expected  to  inliuence  the  rising  gei-  -ation  of  Russian 
peasantry,  the  remedy  rests  with  tlie  Jew,  who,  if  l  .ill  not  refrain 
from  speculating  (in  lawless  parts  of  the  Kmpire)  on  ignorance  and 
drunkenness,  must  be  prepared  to  defend  himself  and  his  property  from 
the  certain  and  natural  result  of  such  a  policy."  i 

All  this  confirms  the  statement  of  IVf.  Pierre  Botkine,  Secre- 
tary of  the  Eussian  Legation  in  Washington,  who,  writing  in 
the  Ceutury  Magazine,^  finys: 

1  Correspotide  lice  respectimj  the  Treat  me  nl  i>f  Jews  in  liiissia,  No.  2.  p.  17 
-  February,  1893. 


i'i 


Hi: 


I'    ' 


fi 


as 


QUKSTIONS  OF  TlIK   DAV. 


il 


"  Hcplyi.i-  to  thp  acouHiition  aKaiiiHt  UuMHia  in  fl.o  matter  of  an  alleged 
rollKious  iiit.)l..ranco,  I  imist  lirst  point  out  a  -ival  .Tn.r  f  haw  rcpratcdlv 
encountcrcil  lieiv.  Tlin  proimiJKatioii  of  tlH>  laws  and  rcKulations  against 
the  laws  Is  being  Konorally  aHcrih..d  in  Am.riea  to  pi-rsccution  ..n  tli.>  part 
of  ti>e  Oiihodox  Church.  Hut  ilK-  llubnnv  .lucslion  in  Uussiu  is  neither 
religious  nor  political  ;  it  is  putvly  an  (■.•onomiciil  and  administrative 
question.  The  actual  meaning  of  the  anti-S.^mitio  measures  prescriiied  by 
our  government  is  not  animosity  to  the  religion  of  the  .fews  ;  neither  are 

those  measures  a  del rate  hunting  down  of  the  f.u.ble  by  the  powerful  • 

they  are  an  effort  to  relieve  the  Kmpire  of  th.-  injurious  .druggie  against 
those  particular  traits  of  Hebrew  character  tiiat  were  obstructing  the 
progress  of  our  people  along  their  own  line  of  natural  development.  It 
may  be  .said  in  gema'al,  that  the  anti-Semitic  movement  in  Russia  is  a 
demonstration  by  the  non-llebrai(!  part  of  the  population  against 
tendencies  of  Hebrews  which  liave  characterised  them  the  world  over  and 
to  which  they  adhere  in  Hussia.  '  ' 

" 'llic  Hebrew,  lus  we  know  him  in  Hussia,  is  '  tlie  eternal  Jew.'     With- 
out a  country  of  his  own,  and,  as  a  rule,  without  any  desire  to  become 
identified  with   the   country  he   f..r  the   time  inherits,  he  remains    as 
for  hundreds  of  y<.ars  he  has  i)cen,  morally  unchangeable  and  without  a 
faculty  for  adapting  himself   to  .sympathy  with  the  pf-ople  of  the  race 
which  surrounds  him.     Ih-  is  not  h(.mog,.,u.„us  with  us  in  Hu.ssia-  he 
docs  not  feel  or  desire  solidarity  with  us.     In  Hussia  he  remains  a  guest 
only, -a  guest  from  long  ago,  an.l  not  an  integral  part  of  the  commu- 
nity.    When  these  guests  witliout  amiiity  became  too  many  in  Russia, 
when  in  serious  localities  their  numbers  were  found  injurious  to  the  wel- 
fare and  the  prosperity  of  our  own  people  as  a  whole,  when  they  had 
grown  into  many  wide-spreading  ramiflcati(.ns  of  inrtuence  and  power, 
and  abased  their  opportunities  as  traders  with  or  lenders  of  money  to 
the  poor,— when,  in  a  word,  tliey  became  dangerous  and  prejudicial 
to  our  people,  —is  theiv  anything  revolting  or  surprising  in  the  fact  that 
our  government  found  it  necessary  to  restrict  tlieir  activity  \>     We  did  not 
expel  the  Jews  from  the  ICmpi.-e,  as  Is  often  mistakenly  charged,  thou'di 
we  did  restrict  their  rights  as  to  localities  of  domicile  and  as  to  kinds  of 
occui)atioiis  -  p()li,.e  reputations.    Is  it  just  that  those  who  have  never  had 
to  confront  such  a  situation  should  blanu;  us  for  tho.se  mea.sures?  " 


Whatever  may  b(>  said  ayahist  tlie  vo.striotions  as  to  residence 
and  occupation  laid  on  tin;  Jews  in  Russia,  from  tlio  i)uint  of 
view  of  ])o]icy  or  Immanity,  it  seems  certain  tliat  tlieir  aim  is 
economical  and  social,  not  religious.  They  fall  under  the 
same  head  with  measures  taken  by  the  people  of  the  United 


/; 


TIIR  JKWISII  QUESTION,  ^W 

States  to  gnanl  tl„.ir  nati„„a|  ity  „„|  ti.cir  nhamcter  against  the 
. uvasion  „.  the  Chine...     There  i.,  u,,,..,.,,,,,  |y  no  ex,  „l.si on    f 
.  ow,  fr„,„  the  province,  of  Kus»i.  >vhieh  >ve>v  on^inally      o 
d..et  set  lement«,  an.l  whieh  they  have  hitherto  uZ.  |,e,.  n     e  1 

extend  the,,,  hnane.al  o,,..mtions  over  the  rest  of  the  Enmire. 
Perseeufon  .»  not  the  ten.leney  „f  the  Russian  or  of  tl'e 
CI  ureh  to  winch  he  helon,..     Th,.  lOastern  Oin.reh,  >vh  U 
ha   been  ,n|,er,,t,t,„ns  and  son.ewhat  torpid,  ha.s  l,...n  toleran 
and,  compared  with  other  ortho,h,x  einnehes,  free  fro  „      ^ 
stam  of  persecution.     It  has  not  heen  actively  ,,r„,,elv      i 
nor  sent  forth  ernsaders,   unless  the  name  of  'crl  ,       Lt 

which,  though  the  pretext  may  have  heen  religion,  nrolnblv 
has  been  territorial  and,ition,  and  whieh  were  c  Sa     y  nl"^ 
crusades  when  waged  by  Catherine,  the  patroness  of  1  hie  " 
and   he  correspondent  of  Voltaire.     This  is  the  n,ore  re    a  k 

the    la,tar.s   hke  that  wh.ch   Spain    had    with    the   Moors 

istn,  of  the  tastern  Christians.  He  .says  that  "a  respectful 
reverence  for  every  manifestation  of  religious    00"   a 

ndtd  ti"rt  'v'f "'i^"'^"''^  "■'  '"^  "8'"'  "'■  ---lel;: 

and  led  them  to  extend  a  kindly  ,,atroiiage  to  forms  of  faith 
most  removed  from  their  own  -  and  he  „°otiees  that  th  g  1 
1  I1.I0  ophers  of  antiquity  are  honoured  by  portraits  in  thet 

1,0  ,s  the  best  authority,  while  he  adn.its  the  inferiority  of 
the  Russian  priests  ,n  education,  testifies  to  their  innocence  o 
persecution,  saying  that  "if  they  have  less  learning,  c,  re 
and  refinement  than  the  Roman  Catholic  priesthood,'  hey  ,av 
at  he  same  t,,„e  infinitely  less  fanaticisiu,  less  spirihial^iride 
and  ess  intoleranee  towards  the  adherents  of  ,ltl,er  fai  hs  '- 
The  educated  classes  he  represents  as  generally  indifferent  to 


I 


Ar:„r;r,;;;;/j;;^"j;  ;f «« ^«-  »-<•".  ■«  eai.io„,  p.  ^ 

■'  Kmsia,  pp.  58,  60,    li,  si,.  u.  Mackenzie  WMna;  M.A. 


By 


.H 


Hi 


II 


250 


QUESTIONS   OF  THE  DAY. 


/I 


II! 


;  ,   Iv,  1 

f      ■                 \ 

j 
i 

fi, 

i 

Ifi     j 

! 

1   ' 

j  1 

ill; 
1 

1     : 

1^ 

i  • 
,  1 

Iti 

theological  questions.  The  peasantry  are  superstitious  and 
blindly  attached  to  their  own  faith,  which  they  identify  with 
their  nationality;  but  they  think  it  natural  and  right  that  a 
man  of  a  different  nationality  should  have  a  different  religion. 
In  Nijni-Xovgorod,  the  city  of  the  great  fair,  the  IVIahometan 
Moscpie  or  the  Armenian  church  and  the  Orthodox  cathedral 
stand  side  by  side.^  At  one  end  of  a  village  is  the  church,  at 
the  other  tlie  mosque,  and  the  Mahometan  spreads  his  prayer- 
carpet  on  the  deck  of  a  steamer  full  of  Orthodox  Russians. 

The  ecclesiastical  constitution   of  Russia  is  incompatible 
with    religious    equality,   and   therefore   with   full   religious 
liberty,     Tlie    Tsar  is  practically,  though  not  theoretically, 
head  of  the  Church  as  well  as  of  the  State;  the  commander  of 
Holy  Russia  as  a  Caliph  is  the  Commander  of  the  Faithful. 
In  the  interest  rather  of  national  unity  than  of  religious  ortho- 
doxy he  restrains  dissent.     But  it  is  against  innovation  and 
schism  within  the  pale  of  the  State  Church  rather  than  against 
misbelief  that  his  power  has  been  exerted.     Some  Tsars,  such 
as  Peter  the  Great  and  the  Tsarina  Catherine  II.,  have  been 
Liberals,  and  have  patronised  merit  without  regard  to  creed. 
Nicholas  was  full  of  ortliodox  sentiment  and  in  all  things  a 
martinet,  yet  Sir  Mackenzie  Wallace  has  a  pleasant  anecdote 
of  his  commending  the  Jewish  sentinel  at  his  door  who  con- 
scientiously refused  to  respond  to  the  Tsar's  customary  salu- 
tation on  Easter  Day.     No  Tsar,  however  bigoted,  has  been 
guilty  of  such  persecution  as  Philip  II.  of  S])ain,  Ferdinand  of 
Austria,  or  Louis  XIV.     Russia  has  had  no  Inquisition.     That 
the  Jews  have  had  liberty  of  worsliip  and  education,  the  exist- 
ence of  0319  synagogues  and  of  77  Jewish  schools  supported 
by  the  State,  besides  1105  private  and  communal  schools,  seems 
clearly  to  prove. ^    It  does  not  seem  to  be  alleged  that  any 
attempt  has  been  made  by  the  government  at  forcible  conver- 
sion.    AVhatever  may  have  been  the  harshness  or  even  cruelty 
of  the  measures  which  it  lias  taken  to  confine  the  Jews  to  tlieir 
original  districts  and  prevent  tlieir  spreading  over  its  domin- 

1  See  Hare's  Studies  in  Btissia,  p.  360. 

■•^  Statesman's  Year-Bonk,  1891,  pp.  854-856. 


THE   JP]\VISH  QUESTION. 


251 


ions,  Its  object  appears  to  have  been  to  protect  the  people 
against  economical  oppression  and  preserve  the  national  char- 
acter from  being  sapped  by  an  alien  influence,  not  to  suppress 
the  Jewish  religion.  The  law  excluding  tlie  Jews  from  Great 
Russia  in  fact  belongs  to  the  same  category  as  the  law  of  the 
United  States  excluding  the  Chinese. 

That  Christian  fanaticism  at  all  events  was  not  the  sole 
source  of  the  unpopularity  of  the  Jews  might  have  been 
inferred  from  the  fact  tliat  the  relation  was  no  better  between 
the  Jew  and  the  heathen  races  during  the  period  of  declining; 
polytheisin,  when  religious  indifference  prevailed  and  beneath 
the  vast  dome  of  the  Roman  Empire  tJie  religions  of  many 
nations  slept  and  mouldered  side  by  side.    Gibbon,  well  ouali- 
hed  to  speak,  for  he  was  himself  a  citizen  of   the  Roman 
Empire  in  sentiment,  after  narrating  the  massacres  committed 
by  the  Jews   on  the   Gentiles   in   Africa  and   Cyprus,   has 
expressed  in  flamboyant  plirase  the  hatred  of  tlie  Roman  world 
tor  the  Jews,  whom  he  designates  as  the  ''implacable  enemies 
not  only  of  the  Roman  government  but  of  human  kind  "^ 
Tacitus  speaks  of  tlie  Jews  as  enemies  of  all  races  but  their 
own  {adversus  omnes  alios  hostile  odium^  and  Juvenal,  in  a 
well-known  passage,  speaks  of  them  as  people  who  would  not 
show  a  wayfarer  his  road  or  guide  the  thirsty  to  a  sprin-  if  he 
were  not  of  their  own  faith.     Those  who  maintain  that  there 
IS  nothing  in  the  character,  habits,  or  disposition  of  the  Jew 
to  provoke  antipathy  have  to  bring  the  charge  of  fanatical 
prejudice  not  only  against  the  Russians  or  against  Christen- 
dom, but  against  mankind. 

In  Germany,  in  Austria,  in  Roumania,  in  all  the  countries  of 
J^.urope  where  this  deplorable  contest  of  races  is  goin-  on  the 
cause  of  quarrel  appears  to  be  fundamentally  the  same'  It 
appears  to  be  economical  and  social,  not  religious,  or  religious 

'Decline  c.Z  Fall  of  the  Roman  Empire,  Chap.  xvi.     "In  Cyrene  " 
bibDon  says    "they  massacred  220,000   Txrecks ;   in   Cyprus,  240  OOo'" 

bl^l'at  nn"     T'"  ^"'i'^"""  ^-  "''^^'  '-^''^'^^  — *' -  reg;rds  ml 
Dtis  at  all  events,  must  be  greatly  exaggerated. 

-'  Hist,  v.,  V. 


Ul 


'     I 


252 


QUESTIONS    OK     lilK    DAY 


H 


Vi 


\  :, 


only  in  a  sooondary  degree.     Mr.  P.ariiig-(;oul(l  tells  us  tliiit  in 
Germany  "tliere  is  scarce  a  village  without  some  Jews  in  it, 
who  do  not  cultivate  land  themselves,  but  lie  in  wait  like 
spiders  lor  the  failing  Bauer."  '     A.  German  who  knew  the 
])easantry  well  said  to  Mr.  Gould  that  "he  doubted  whether 
ther(>  were  a  happier  set  of  people  under  the  sun;"    but  he 
added,  after  a  pause,  "so  long  as  tliey  are  out  of  the  clutch  of 
the  Jew."  -     Of  the  German,  as  well  as  of  tlie  Russian,  it  may 
be  said  that  he  is  not  a  religious  persecutor.     If  persecution  of 
a  sanguinary  or  atrocious  kind  has  sullied  his  annals,  the  arm 
of  it  was  the  house  of  Austria,  with  its  Spanish  connection, 
and  the  head  was  the  world-roving  Jesuit.     In  the  case  of 
Hungary,  Mr.  l»aget,  who  is  a  Liberal  and  advocates  a  Liberal 
policy  towards  the  Jews,  says:  "The  Jew  is  no  less  active  in 
profiting  by  tlie  vices  and  ne(!essities  of  the  peasant  than  by 
those  of  the  noble.     As  sure  as  he  gains  a  settlement  in  a 
village  the  peasantry  become  poor."  ^    "  In  Austrian  Poland," 
says  a  Times  reviewer,  "the  worst  of  the  peasant's  sluggish 
content  is  that  it  has  given  him  over  to  the  exactions  of  the 
Jews."     "The  Jews,"  he  adds,  "are  in  fact  the  lords  of  the 
country."     They  are  lords  not  less  alien  to  the  people  than 
the  Norman  was  to  the  Saxon,  and  perhaps  not  alwnys  more 
merciful,  though  in  their  hands  is  the  writ  of  ejection  instead 
of  the  conqueror's  sword. 

If  we  cross  the  Mediterranean  the  same  thing  meets  us.  In 
Thomson's  "Morocco,"  we  read: 

"  As  money-lenders  the  Jews  are  as  maggots  and  parasites,  aggravating 
and  feeding  on  tlie  diseases  of  tlie  land.  I  do  not  know,  for  nn-  •^art, 
which  exercises  the  greatest  tyranny  and  oppression,  the  Saltan  or  .he 
Jew,  —  the  one  the  embodiment  of  the  fonlest  misgovornment,  the  other 
the  essence  of  a  do;:eii  Shylocks,  demanding,  ay,  and  getting,  not  only 
his  pomid  of  flesh,  but  also  the  blood  and  nerves.  By  his  outrageous 
exactions  the  Sultan  drives  the  Moor  into  the  hands  of  the  Jew,  who 
affords  him  a  temporary  relief  by  lending  him  the  necessary  money  on 

1  Germany  Present  and  Past,Yo\.  I.,  p.  114.    By  S.  Baring-Gould,  M.  A 

2/i.,  p.  127. 

3  Hungary  and  Transylvania,  Vol.  I.,  p.  136.     By  John  Paget. 


us  tliiit  in 
ews  in  it, 

wait  like 

kn(iw  the 
d  whether 
;"  but  he 
i  clutch  of 
an,  it  may 
;ecution  of 
s,  the  arm 
annection, 
le  case  of 

a  Liberal 
!  active  in 
it  than  by 
ncnt  in  a 

Poland," 
5  sluggish 
ns  of  the 
ds  of  the 
ople  than 
^'nys  more 
)n  instead 

;s  us.     In 


iSgrcavatins 
n-  luv  ^art, 
Itan  or  ihe 
t,  the  other 
?,  not  only 
outrageous 
Jew,  who 
•  money  on 

ould,  M.A. 

ret. 


THE  JEWISH  QUESTION.  258 

"^2^:^^  :r-     ""n  '-  '^^  -ney-,enaer-s  chUches,  he 

ne  I.S  probably  left  to  die  a  slow  and  horrible  death 

a  riaralloT'  "iWr!:'"  "\  '"  '""  '"  '^""^'^"  '^  -"-'^^  ^«  ^»ifficult  to  find 
ivir in  the  ruMrv  '";  '  '"'^'^  ''""•  '^'•^^''•^^^'  '""^  '"^^-•'  -dually 

hlnnrl  ,>f  ♦!    ■     i     .  ^  '  ^^^  Hs.sisted  to  suck,  thc  verv  life- 

Even  if  we  cross  the  Atlantic  we  find  tlie  same  phenomenon. 

r.  OiniStfid.    HI    Ilia    "/i^4.i.„.,     in  -,  ..  ^  "v^iiuji. 


H 


>? 


says 


Mr.  Olmsted,  in  his  "Cotton  Kingdom 

And  again : 

Mr.  Stevenson  says  of  the  Jews  in  San  Francisco  • 

Krindin-  iu  tlio  mill      ^l  ,      ■  *''^""  '^"•"l-sJ''ive  liopelessly 

f^iiuuiiif^  111  me  null.     So  tlie  whirl  n-tr  nf  ti.no  hrinrrc  ;•>  •^ 

except  that  the  Jew  knows  better    hCn    o    Ih  ''''"^'''  ""^ 

'  //).,  pp.  321,  322. 

'  across  the  Plains,  p.  100.    By  Bobcrt  Louis  Stevenson. 


if  J 


't 


251 


QUESTIONS  OF  THE   DAY. 


Those  passages  were  not  intonded  by  the  writers,  nor  are 
they  here  cited,  as  general  pictures  of  the  Jews,  or  as  pictures 
of  Jews  exclusively.  In  the  last,  American  sharp  practice  is 
included.  The  passages  are  cited  as  indications  of  the  real 
source  of  the  antagonism  tending  to  show  that  it  is  economical 
not  religious.^ 


'ih 


Light  dawned  on  the  writer's  mind  touching  this  question 
when  he  had  been  listening  with  sympathy  to  speeches  in  the 
IJritish  House  of  Commons  on  the  anti-Semitic  movement  in 
Koumania,  wliere,  as  in  Russia,  the  number  of  Jews  is  particu- 
larly large  and  the  feeling  against  them  is  proportionately 
intense.  The  Jewisli  member  who  appealed  to  the  government 
on  the  subject,  and  the  Minister  who  rose  in  response  to  the 
appeal,  had  both  of  tliem  assumed  that  it  was  a  case  of  reli- 
gious persecution,  and  the  Minister  especially  had  dwelt  on 
tlie  mischievous  influence  of  ecclesiastics;  with  how  little 
justice,  so  far  as  the  priests  of  the  Eastern  Church  are  con- 
cerned, Ave  have  already  seen.  The  debate  over,  the  writer 
was  accosted  by  his  friend,  the  late  Dr.  Humphry  Sandwith, 
distinguished  for  his  share  in  the  defence  of  Kars  against  the 
liussians,  who  knew  the  Danubian  Principalities  Avell.  Dr. 
»Sandv/ith  said  that  the  speakers  had  been  entirely  mistaken; 
that  religion  was  not  the  motive  of  the  agitation ;  that  neither 
the  people  nor  their  priests  were  given  to  persecution;  that 
the  government  had  granted  aid  to  a  synagogue;  but  that 
Jewish  usurers  got  the  simple-minded  peasants  into  their  toils 
and  sold  them  out  of  their  homesteads  till  the  peasants  would 
bear  it  no  longer,  and  an  outbreak  ensued.  Dr.  Sandwith^ 
being  a  thorough-going  Liberal,  would  have  been  the  last  man 
to  palliate  religions  persecution. 


f     > 

!         :         ■' 

'V 

1  "In  India,"  says  Professor  Ashley,  "  the  village  usurer  is  constantly 
a  source  of  trouble  to  the  administration  ;  all  over  Central  and  South- 
eastern Europe  he  is  a  curse  to  every  district  to  which  he  comes  ;  and  in 
Austria  and  Kussia  his  mischievous  energy  is  one  of  the  main  causes  of 
the  anti-Semitic  movement." — Aii  Introduction  to  English  Economic, 
History  and  Theory^  Part  II.,  p.  430. 


THU  JRWISII    QUKSTION.  255 

It  is  (loubtfn)  ,vI,etho,-,  oven  in  tl.o  Middle  Ages,  thfi  ouarre! 
wa.  not  Io»s  r,d.gi„us  and  lucre  eeonomical  nt  s^eial  T"! 
supposed      That  was  the  ago  of  rcdigious  intolo  Joe-  CI  i 
.an  lieretics    sueh  as  the  Albigenses,  wore  perseent  d  wi  , 
ally  as  much  er„eUy  as  the  Jews.     J,.v.  Jo  had  vent  "o 
0  settle  „,  the  Catholie  o„„„uu„ities  for  the  sake  of  !  1 
braved  the  sa,„e  sort  of  peril  whieh  ,vould  ite  been  bS 
by  an  enterpr.s.ng  trader  who  ha.l  thrust  himself  to  Japan 
dunng  Its  elose  per.od.     H„t  as  a  rule,  though  they  we  e  luted 
they  were  not  persecuted;  they  we.e  tolerated  and  dlowetto 
buld  the.r  synagogues  and  worship  God  in  their  own    vav 
They  were  regarded,  not  like  heretics,  as  religious  trai  on' 
but  as  rehg,ous  aUeus.     Their  r.digious  blindness,  1    "l  5 
their  pena  I,ou,eless„ess,  was  vie.-e.l  as  the  act  of  God      Thev 
were  privileged  m  misbelief.     Aquinas  exnresslv  1,,!  it  , 
t|.at  they  are  to  be  tolerated  a,^  a  usJ^rtS.  y'  ,  rT 
hough  by     Iversaries,  to  the  truth  of  Christianity.,   'it  "  no; 
ue  that  the  great  Doctor  of  the  Middle  Ages  sanctions  71 
forcible  conversion  of  the  children  of  Jews!    He  raises  to 

b:iro::'toT'""t" ';  "r  "t^"'  '^"  -»— *  ^t t 

In  the  "C*  r      "!^""  ''"'  '*""  **''™  ""  '"^  conclusion, 

shall  not  be  baptised  against  their  will  or  inclination,  since 
enforced  baptism  does  not  make  a  Christian.     Their  ,  erZ 
are  to  be  secure  froin  violence,  their  graves  from  spoiiaS 
heir  ciistom,ary  rights   from   iiiv.asioii,  tlieir  festivals  from 

ffStl:"-  ^"™""  ^™"  ^'**''"' "'«''  --«'- 

By  the  kings,  and  notably  by  the  Angevin  kings  of  EnMand 
the  Jews  were  protected  as  the  agents  of  royal  extortioi" %„"  ^ 
."g  by  usury  the  money  from  the  people  which  was  aft  mal 

■^ "'  "f  '-"I'Sion,  however  superstitious  they  may  be.     It 

^  Sum,m  ThcolMiica,  S,r,m,l<i  Scomtdx,  Qu»st.  X.,  Art.  xl. 
3  Deem.  Greg.,  Lib.  V.,  Tit.  vi. 


266 


QUKSriDNtS  OF   TIIIO    DAV, 


Hi 


I 


I 


ill 


11 


II 


II 


is  ratlipr  by  the  possossors  of  rrclosiasticiil  power  and  wealth, 
by  Ar(!lihislio[)s  oJ"  'I'olcdo  and  PriiKv;  I'>islio})s  of  Germany, 
wliom  dissent  tlirciitens  with  dispossession,  or  by  Uiiij^s  [ik(! 
riiilip  II.  and  Louis  XIV.,  uncUu-  priestly  iiiHuenoe,  tliat  the 
engines  of  persoeution  are  set  at  work.     At  the  time  of  the 
Crusades,  (Christian  fanatieism  being  excited  to  frenzy,  there 
were  dreadful    nuissacres   of  Jews,  and    forced   conversions, 
though  no  reliance  van  be  placed  on  the  figures  of  medieval 
chroniclers,  who  set  down  at  random  twenty  thousand  victims 
slain,  or  two  hundred  thousand  forced  conversions.     The  ffew 
at  that  time  was  odious  not  only  as  a  misbeliever  in  the  midst 
of  the  Christian  camp,  whose  presence  would  turn  from  it  the 
countenance  of  Cod,  but  as  a  suspected  friend  and  ally  at  heart 
of  the  Oriental  powiu-.      The  dews  niust  have  foreseen  the 
storm,  and  inight  have  escaped  by  flight,  but  th(>y  were  pei'- 
haps  tempted  by  the  vast  harvest  afforded  them  in  the  general 
sale  of  possessions  by  tlui  (.h-usaders  to  buy  equipments,  wliile 
by  tliat  tniliic  their  unpopuhirity  was  incr(?ase(L     In  ordina,ry 
times  the  main  causes  of  the  hatred  of  the  Jews  among  the 
common    people    app(>ar    to    have    been    usury   and   a  social 
arrogance,  Avhich  was  particularly  galling  on  the  part  of  the 
alien  and  the  enemy  of  Christ.      In  the  riots  the  people  made 
for  the  place  in  which  the  Jewish  bonds  were  kept.     At  York, 
the  scene  of  tlie  worst  anti-Jewish  riot  in  I'ngland,  the  clironi- 
cler  tells  us  there  were  two  Jews,  Jiencdict  and  Joce,  who  had 
built  in  the  middle  of  the  city  houses  like  palaces,  where  they 
dwelt  like  ])rinces  of  their  own    pi'ople  and  tyrants  of  the 
Ciiristiaus,  keeping  almost  royal   sta,te,  and  exercising  harsh 
tyranny  against  those  wliom  they  oppressed  with  their  usuries. 
The  usury  was  grinding  and  ruthh^ss.     In  the  Chronicle  of 
Jocelin  de  Brakeloud  we  see  how  rapidly  a  debt  of  twenty- 
seven  pounds,   owed  to  a  Jew,  grew  to   -ngbt   hundred  and 
eighty.     Jews  at  Oxford  were  forbidden  by  edict  to  take  more 
than   forty-three    per  cent.     So  it  Avas  generally.     Political 
economy  will  say  that  this  was  justifiable,  in  the  circumstances 
perhaps  useful,  and  the  penalty  due  to  the  Christian  supersti- 
tion which  made  the  lending  of  money  at  interest  an  unholy 


and  wealth, 

)t'  G(M'ni!uiy, 
y  kiii!^-s  lik(! 
iKic,  tliat  the 

tillU!   of    tllfci 

h-vnzy,  there 
conversions, 
of  medieval 
sand  victims 
s.  The  Jew 
ill  the  midst 
1  from  it  the 
ally  at  heart 
fores(!en  the 
:'.y  were  per- 
i  the  general 
ments,  wliile 

In  ordiiiiiry 
s  among  tlie 
,nd   a  soinal 

part  of  the 
people  made 
i.  At  York, 
,  the  cliroiii- 
:)ce,  who  luid 
,  where  they 
•ants  of  the 
3ising  harsh 
leir  nsuries. 
chronicle  of 
'j  of  twenty- 
Lundred  and 
bo  take  more 
r.  Political 
rcumstances 
ian  supersti- 
t  an  unholy 


TUM  JMVVISII   (iCKSTION.  267 

and  therefore  a  perih.us  trade.     Keverth.dess,  it  was  hateful 
aw  sure  to  engender  hate.     The  Lomha^dJ  and  Z^, 
vho,  wh  n  the  dews  were  for  a  time  driven  froin  the  field 
took  up  the  business,  incurred  tlie  san.e  hatred,  though  in  th  ir 
.•H.s(  there  was  no  religious  or  social  feeling  to  ag-a-avate  the 
-Poimlanty  of  the  trade.     A  Spanish  Cl^ucello    des    ib 
tl-  Jews  as  the  bloodsuckers  of  the  afHi.^ted  people  ^  men 
who  exact  fifty  ])er  cent    ei-ditv  n  l,,,,  i     i       '/',  1'^^'  '^^  "»'"i 
fi„.  1      1   •      1     V  '  *''^'"ty'  ^  liundred,  and  tlirongh  wliom 

the  lan.l  is  desohite,  their  hanl  hearts  being  callous  to  trs 
and  groans,  and  their  ears  deaf  to  petitions  f^r  a.lJ^^     ZZ 

1  leta  to  rescue  his  people  from  the  fangs  of  the  Jows 

Ihe  lawof  tlie  Jews  themselves,  be  it  observed,  proscribes 
usury  n.  the  ease  of  a  tribal  brother,  permitting  it  i  tee 
ot   a   stranger.     "Thou   shalt   not   lend   upon   usury  t     t,, 

that  IS  lent  upon  usury:    unto  a  stranger  tliou  mayest  lend 
"Pou  usury 5   but  unto  thy  brother  thou  shalt  not  lend  up 

K  AAiii.,  J.;,  ^u),      11,0  ,j^,^^   ^i^pj     onthesubiect  of 

e  C  nsfaau  s„„o.,titio„  „,ay  be  ,,ai„  to  l.avo  „„o„  do     ' 
I  "...  tl,o  ,rew.»i,  law.     i„  „,,,ti,i    ,  ^,^         ChrUtiau 

.r:f ,;::;"  :,'':"■"  *"°  "'""'">"'"'  "'■-"  ^^  -sa*d  tZ 

not  as  oietliren  Init  as  sfjingers. 

'n.o  Jows  i„  tl.o  Jli^Ul.o  Ages  after  all  wei-e  not  so  ,„al- 
.•..ato,l  a«  to  i„,.vent  the.a  fVo.a  amassing  what  was  for      '  t 
...0  o„„v,„ou.,  wealth.     Of  this  they  a,,,,™,-  in  those  aU 
.oy  some  „„„.,  ,lo  ,„  these,  to  have  ,aa,le  ostentatious  ami 

the  eyes  of  nat.ves  a„,l  Chnstians,  espeeially  if  they  had  « 
.*...s  of  extortion,  offensive  use.     A  Cortes  in  I'l';" 

I IM,  eo„,|,h«ne,I  of  Jewish  luxury  and  .lisplay,  of  Je«°s  who 

]«..1-I..lted  sw-ords,  and  entered  ehurehes  where  tliey  mocked 


r 


i'-"'' 


IM 


2f>H 


QlKSriONS   OF   Till-:    DAY 


the  woi'sliip.  Jcwisli  liau^'litiiioss  soems  somctimos  oven  to 
liavo  iii(liil},'f'(l  in  insults  to  tlio  i)()[)ular  religion.  At  Oxfoi-d 
it  mocks  tlic  niivMclcs  of  St.  Frydeswido  bid'oro  lior  votiirirs, 
assaults  a  I'cligious  protH'Ssiou,  and  ti'anii)U\s  on  the  cross.  At 
Lynn  tiici  .lews  attiu^k  a  nliurcJi  to  drag  out  a  convert  From 
fludaisni  to  ( Christianity,  for  whose  blood  tlu^y  thirsted,  and  the 
])eople  of  the  placid  nro,  half  afraid  to  resist  them,  knowing 
that  they  are  protected  by  th(i  king.  I'xvsides  tlunr  nsury,  the 
ffews  were  suspected  of  (flipping  the  coin.  Tluiir  function  as 
the  middlemen  of  royal  rapacity  nnist  hav(!  been  most  odious, 
not  least  when  tliey  handled  for  the  king  Ciuirch  estates  which 
he  had  wrongfully  taken  into  iiis  hands.  In  expelling  them 
from  England,  Edward  I.,  the  best  of  kings,  no  doubt  thought 
that  he  was  doing  a  good  deed,  while  his  peojde  were  uncpies- 
tionably  grateful.  The  worthy  Abbot  Samson,  of  St.  Edmond- 
l)nry,  in  the  same  way  earned  tlie  gratitude  of  the  ])eople  of 
that  ])lace  by  ridding  it  <d'  th(^  Jews.  '1  he  clearest,  as  well  as 
tlie  nu)st  terriblr,  case  of  persecution  of  the  dews  for  religion 
was  in  Spain,  and  ther(>,  it  nnist  be  remembered,  when  the  Jew 
was  burnt'd,  the  Christian  suspectixl  of  heresy  was  burned  at 
his  side.  Even  in  Spain  it  is  not  easy  to  say  how  much  was 
hatrtul  of  religion,  how  nnich  Avas  hatred  of  race.  For  cen- 
turies tlie  Spanish  Christians  had  struggled  for  the  land  with 
Islam,  and  tlu^  Iiistoiy  of  Spain  had  been  one  long  (h'usade. 
Tlie  Jew  was  identified  with  Islam.  A  flewish  writer,  Lady 
IVlagnus,  in  her  history  of  her  race,  says: 

"  Both  in  tho  East  and  in  the  West  the  rise  of  Mohannnodanisni  was, 
in  truth,  as  tlie  (hiwn  of  a  new  day  to  tlie  despised  and  dispersed  Jews. 
If  we  except  that  one  bitter  (juarrel  between  the  earliest  followers  of  the 
Prophet  and  the  Jews  of  Arabia,  —  and  that,  we  must  nole,  was  no  organ- 
ized or  systematic  persecntion,  but  rather  an  ebullition  of  anj,'er  from  an 
ardent  enthusiast  at  his  first  unexpected  rebuff,  —  we  shall  find  that  Juda- 
ism had  much  reason  to  rejoice  at  the  rapid  sj)read  of  Mohammedanism. 
Monotheists,  like  the  Jews,  abliorrins;  like  them  all  forms  of  image  wor- 
ship, worshipping  in  simple  fashion  tiieir  one  (iod  Allah,  observing  dietary 
laws  like  those  of  Moses,  the  Mohaniniedans  both  in  their  faith  and  in 
their  practice  naturally  found  more  gnninds  for  agreement  with  Jewish 
doctrine  than  with  the  Christian  dogma  of  a  complex  Godhead,  or  with 


iios  ovon  to 
At  Oxford 
I  or  votaries, 
[)  cross.  At 
:)nvert  Iroiu 
tod,  and  tlio 
in,  knowing 
[r  usury,  the 

function  as 
nost  odious, 
states  wliich 
lolling  tlioni 
)ubt  thought 
/ere  unciues- 
St.  Edjnond- 
le  people  of 
it,  as  Avell  as 

for  religion 
hen  the  Jew 
IS  burned  at 
w  much  was 
For  cen- 
le  land  with 
ng  Crusade, 
vriter,  Lady 


iiedanism  was, 
spersed  Jews. 
)llowcr.s  (if  the 
was  no  orgaii- 
an^er  from  an 
ind  that  Juda- 
lanimedanisni. 
of  image  wor- 
^crving  dietary 
ir  faitii  and  in 
t  with  Jewish 
iliead,  or  with 


THE  JEWLSIl   QUESTION.  250 

the  undeveloped  aspirations  of  the  heathen.  And  besides  some  iden- 
ty  of  pr„.cple  and  of  race  between  the  Mohannnedan  and"  e  ew 
th^re  scxm  discovered  itself  a  certain  hardly  definable  kinship  7lnZ 
nd  custom, -a  sort  of  sympathy,  in  fact,  which  is  often  n.ore  el  o  Un 
than  even  more  in.portant  causes  in  promoting  frien.lly  rela  ion  e  2^ 
national  y  or  individually.  Then,  also,  there  ;as  the  s",  il^  ^  o  n 
gua^;  for  Arabic    like  Hebrew,  belongs  to  what  is  called  th^sl  j^ 

Telr  ^(fstanl^u 'T"';;'  T  ''"^i""''^^  '"^•^*'  ''''^'''^'^'y'  "'^^0  n.ade  the 
year  710  stand  out  to  the  Jews  of  that  time  as  the  beginnin-  of  -i  -n-and 
new  era  in  their  history.  Centuries  of  cruelty  had  „,ade  tt  wi  ety 
counse  of  Jeremiah  to  <  pray  for  the  peace  of  the  land  w  dt"  y  u-e 
ed  captive  ;  .ts  peace  shall  be  your  peace  also,'  a  hard  task  fo  the  ni^s! 
loya    of  consciences  ;  an.l  in  that  early  year  of  the  eighth  century  w^ 

pt     Z  :f  he  r  ""  '?  ''  "?  Mohammedan  victories,  and  th  J'tr'^n 
phant  flag  of  the  Crescent  was  hoisted  on  tower  and  citadel,  the  libertv 
of  conscience  which  it  practically  proclaimed  must  have  be  n    n    1  e 
widest  sense  a  cause  for  national  rejoicing  to  the  Jews."  i 

The  kindness  of  the  Mahometan  to  the  Jew  may  liere  be 
overrated,  but  the  syn.pathy  between  Judaism  and  islam  can- 
not be  questioned,  and  it  meant  eonnnon  antipathy  to  Christen- 
<  om,  whteh  Chnstendom  could  not  fail  to  reciproc.i,  especially 

in  of  the  Crusaders      But  some  strong  motive  was  needed 
to  make  men  leave  their  hon.es  and  their  wives  and  go  to  die 
as  the  vanguard  of  Christendom  on  Syrian  battlefielL.     Let 
ns   not   forget  that   the   question   whether   Christianity  and 
Christian  cmhsation  or  Islam,  with  its   despotism  and  its 
harem,  should  reign  in  Europe  came  to  be  decided,  not  withon 
ong  and  perilous  debate,  so  near  the  heart  of  Christendom  as 
lo^plan.  of  Tours.     The  Jews  of  Southern  France,  like  those 
t  Spain,  were  suspected  of  inviting  the  invaders,      [f  they  did 
hey  wei-e  not  without  excuse.     Ihd,  their  excuse  could  hardly 
be  expected  to  pass  muster  with  Charles  Martel 

From  religious  intohM-ance  in  the  Dark  Ages,  or  lono-  after 

he  end  o    the  Dark  Ages,  nobody  was  free!     The  J^v  wi: 

not^     He  had  striven  as  long  as  he  had  a  chance,  by  all  means 

in  his  power,  unscrupulously  using  the  Koman  or  the  Persian 

•  About  the  Jeivs  since  Bible  Times,  pp,  195-197.     By  Lady  Magnus. 


■M 


i, 


m 


260 


QUESTIONS   OF  THE    DAY. 


i(  1 ' 


mi 


as  liis  instruments,  to  crush  Chvistiiuiity.  His  own  law  pun- 
ished blasiihemy  with  deiith  and  l);uh3  the  worshipper  of 
Jehovah  slauj,'hter  everything  that  breathed  in  a  eaptnred  eity 
of  the  heathtMi.  It  was  heuee,  in  iaet,  that  t!ie  huiuisitor 
partly  drew  liis  insi)irati()n.  Medieval  darkness  had  passi-d 
away  when  .Judaism  sought  the  life  of  Spinoza  and  seourged 
Uriel  A(!osta  in  the  synagogue. 

Although  the  lot  of  a  Jew  in  the  Middle  Ages  was  hard  in 
itself,  it  Avas  perhaps  not  so  hard  (lomparcd  with  that  of  other 
elasses,  notably  witli  that  of  the  serf,  as  the  perpetual  addition 
of  piteous  ei)ithets  to  his  name  by  (iommon  writers  might  lead 
us  to  supi)ose.  ''Ivanhoe"  is  not  history;  Freeman's  works 
are.     Freiunan  says : 

"  lu  tlio  wake  of  tlio  conqueror  the  Jews  of  Koiion  found  tlioir  way 
to  London,  and  before  long  we  lind  scuK'nuMits  of  li.e  Hebrew  race  in 
tlie  chief  cities  and  boroughs  of  England  :  at  York,  Win(;hester,  Lincoln, 
liristol,  Oxford,  and  evvn  at  tlie  gate  of  tlie  Abbot  of  St.  Kdnionda  and 
St.  All)ans.  'I'hey  came  as  tlu'  king's  .v^ecial  men,  or  more  truly  as  his 
special  chattels,  strangers  alike  to  th.>  ^  luurli  and  the  oninmnwealth, 
but  strong  in  the  protection  of  a  master  who  commonly  found  it  his 
interest  to  protect  them  against  all  others.  Hated,  feared,  an.l  loatlied, 
but  far  too  deeply  feared  to  be  scorned  ov  oppressed,  they  stalked  defi- 
antly among  the  people  of  the  land,  on  whose  wants  they  throve,  safe 
from  harm  or  insult,  save  now  and  then,  when  popular  wrath  burst  all 
bounds,  when  their  proud  mnnsions  and  fortified  .piarters  could  shelter 
them  no  longer  from  raging  crowds  who  weiv  eager  to  wash  out  their 
debts  in  the  blood  of  their  creditors.  The  romantic  picture  of  the 
despised,  trembling  Jew,  cringing  before  every  Cliristian  whom  he 
meets,  is,  in  any  age  of  Hnglish  history,  simply  a  romantic  picture.'" 

The  Jews  found  it  worth  their  while  to  buy  their  Avay  back 
into  lauds  from  whieJi  they  had  been  banislied,  and  their 
existence  in  which  is  pictured  by  historians  as  a  hell.  If  they 
were  heavily  taxed  and  sometimes  pillaged,  they  were  exempted 
from  the  most  grievous  of  all  taxes,  service  in  war.  Tlieir 
badge,  though  a  stigma,  was  also  a  protection,  since  it  marked 
them  as  serfs  of  tlie  king.     Even  the  Ghetto,  where  there  was 

1  The  Reujn  of  WUU<nn  Eufm  (Did  the  Accession  of  Henry  the  First, 
Vol.  I.,  p.  100.     Uy  Ivlward  A.  Freeman. 


TllK   .IK WISH   (iUKS'lIUN. 


261 


nvn  law  pun- 
orshipper  of 
;!iiptiu'0(l  city 
10  JiHiuisitor 
i  liiul  pa.ssetl 
mil  siiuurgeil 

1  was  liaril  in 
liat  of  otlu'i' 
tual  addition 
s  miglit  lead 
mail's  woriis 


inul  tlioir  way 
fbi'ow  raco  in 
ester,  Lincoln, 
Kilnionda  and 
re  truly  as  his 
nninionwealtli, 
found  it  liis 
1,  and  loatlred, 
y  stalked  defi- 
ly  throve,  safe 
'ratli  burst  all 
■i  could  shelter 
rash  out  their 
licturc  of  the 
ian  whom  he 
tic  picture."  ' 

ir  way  ba(!k 
,  and  tlieir 
If  tliey 


11. 


re  exempted 
V'dv.  Tlieir 
e  it  marked 
■e  there  was 

urif  the  Fimt, 


one,  would  bo  com[)aratively  a  small  f,'rievance  when  nation- 
alities, erafts,  and  family  elans  had  their  special  quarters  in 
cities.  Any  immigrant  would  have  been  less  at  home  in  the 
(dosely  organistnl  (iommunities  of  feudalism  and  Catholicism 
than  ill  the  loose  society  of  thi;  Ilcuuaii  Kmpire.  But  tlie  Jew 
was  there  by  iiis  own  choice.  Th((  tenure  of  land  in  a  feudal 
realm,  being  military,  land  coukl  hanlly  be  lield  by  a  Jew. 
Hut  Jews  were  not  forbidilen  by  law  to  hold  land  in  England 
Hll  late  in  tlie  reign  of  Henry  III.,  Avlieu  it  was  found  that  tiiey 
were  getting  estates  into  their  hands  by  mortgage,  which  would 
have  been  ruinous  to  tlm  feudal  system.  A  community  has  a 
right  to  defend  its  territory  and  its  national  integrity  against 
an  invader  whether  his  weapon  be  the  sword  or  foreclosure. 
In  tlie  territories  of  tlui  Italian  Uei)ublics  the  ,Iews  might, 
so  far  as  we  see,  have  bought  hind  and  taken  to  farming  had 
they  pleased.  But  b(!fore  this  they  had  thoroughly  taken  to 
trade.  Under  t\ui  falling  Empire  tliey  were  the  great  slave- 
traders,  buying  captives  from  barbarian  invaders  and  probably 
acting  as  general  brokers  of  si)oils  at  the  same  tinu\  They 
entered  England  in  the  tram  of  the  Xorman  conqueror.  There 
was,  no  doubt,  a  perpetual  struggle  between  their  craft  and  the 
brute  force  of  the  feudal  populations.  But  what  moral  pre- 
rogative has  craft  over  forcte?  Mr.  Arnold  White  tells  the 
Russians  that,  if  they  would  lot  Jewish  intelligence  have  free 
course,  Jews  would  soon  fill  all  high  emi.loyments  and  places 
of  power  to  the  exclusion  of  the  natives,  wlio  now  hold  them, 
llussians  are  bidden  to  acquiesce  and  rather  to  rejoice  in  this 
by  philosopluirs,  who  would  ])erhaps  not  relish  tlie  cup  if  it 
Avere  commended  to  tlndr  own  lips.  The  law  of  evolution,  it 
is  said,  prescribes  the  survival  of  the  fittest.  To  which  the 
Russian  boor  may  reply,  tliat  if  his  force  beats  the  fine  intelli. 
gence  of  the  Jew  the  fittest  will  survive  and  tlie  law  of  evolu- 
tion will  be  fulfilled.  It  was  force  rather  tlian  fine  intelligence 
which  decided  on  the  field  of  Zama  that  the  Latin,  not  the 
Semite,  should  rule  the  ancient  and  mould  the  modern  world. 
Religious  antipathy,  no  doubt,  has  always  added  and  con- 
tinues to  add  bitterness  to  tlie  social  quarrel.     Among  ignorant 


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QUJ]STIONS  OF  THE   DAY. 


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If   11*. 


peasants  it  still  takes  grotesque,  sometimes  hideous,  shapes, 
such  as  the  cruel  fancy  that  the  Jews  sacrifice  Christian  chil- 
dren and  spread  pestilence.  The  Jew  has  always  been  felt  to 
be  a  power  of  evil,  and  the  peasant  imagination  lends  to  the 
power  of  evil  horns  and  hoofs.  But  even  the  peasant  imagina- 
tion does  not  lend  horns  and  hoofs  to  any  power  which  is  felt 
to  be  harmless,  much  less  to  one  which  has  always  been 
beneficent,  as  we  are  asked  to  believe  that  the  Jews  have  been. 
The  people  are  not  everywhere  fools  or  fiends.  Let  it  be 
remembered,  too,  that  the  Jewish  religion  is  not  merely  a 
religion  of  peculiar  opinion.  It  is  a  religion  of  social  exclu- 
siveness,  of  arrogated  superiority  to  Gentiles,  and  treatment  of 
them  as  unclean,  of  the  Pentateuch  with  its  Cliosen  People, 
and  of  tlie  feast  of  Purim.  Milman  thinks  it  possible  that  in 
the  offensive  celebration  of  the  feast  of  Purim  some  of  the 
calumnies  about  the  Jews  may  have  had  their  source. 

People  of  a  higher  class,  whom  Jewish  usury  does  not  touch, 
object  to  Judaism  on  higher  grounds.  They  object  to  it 
because  it  is  at  variance  with  the  unity  of  the  nation  and 
threatens  to  eat  out  the  core  of  nationality.  Admitting  the 
keenness  of  Jewish  intelligence,  they  say  that  intelligence  is 
not  always  beneficent,  nor  is  submission  to  it  always  a  matter  of 
duty,  especially  when  its  ascendancy  is  gained  by  such  means 
as  the  dexterous  appropriation  of  the  circulating  medium,  and 
when  it  is,  as  they  believe,  the  result  not  of  individual  effort 
in  a  fair  field,  but  of  the  collective  effort  of  a  united,  though 
scattered  race,  aided  by  a  press  in  Jewish  hands.  They  demur 
to  having  the  high  places  of  their  community  monopolised,  as 
Mr.  Arnold  White  says  they  might  be  in  Eussia,  by  unsympa- 
thetic aliens  turning  the  rest  of  the  nation  into  hewers  of  wood 
and  drawers  of  water.  This  feeling,  if  it  is  selfish,  is  natural, 
and  should  be  cliaritably  viewed  by  those  who  are  free  from 
the  danger.  Some  of  the  opposition  to  Jewish  ascendancy 
arises  from  dread  of  materialism,  the  triumpli  of  which  over 
the  spiritual  character  and  aspirations  of  Christian  communi- 
ties would,  it  is  apprehended,  follow  the  victory  of  the  Jew, 
an  impersonation  of  the  power  of  wealtli.     Among  the  anti- 


ii! 


THE  JEWISH  QUESTION. 


263 


IS,  shapes, 
stian  chil- 
aen  felt  to 
ids  to  the 
t  imagina- 
Lch  is  felt 
*^ays  been 
iiave  been. 
Let  it  be 
merely  a 
iial  exclu- 
jatment  of 
n  People, 
)le  that  in 
ne  of  tlie 

lot  touch, 
ject  to  it 
ation  and 
itting  the 
ligence  is 
matter  of 
Lch  means 
iium,  and 
iual  effort 
d,  though 
ley  demur 
lolised,  as 
unsympa- 
s  of  wood 
3  natural, 
free  from 
icendancy 
hich  over 
jommuni- 
ihe  Jew, 
the  anti- 


Semites  are  Christian  Socialists  seeking  the  liberation  of  the 
labouring  class  from  the  grasp  of  usury  and  tiie  money  power. 
Ilerr  Stoecker  belongs,  it  seems,  to  this  sect,  and  far  from 
being  an  enemy  of  the  Jewish  people,  is  a  devout  believer  in 
the  Old  Testament.  To  be  opposed  on  social  or  patriotic 
ground  to  Judaism  as  a  system  is  not  to  be  a  hater  of  the 
Jews,  any  more  than  to  be  opposed  to  Islam  or  Buddhism  as  a 
system  is  to  be  a  hater  of  the  Mahometan  or  the  Buddhist. 

The  impression  prevails  that  Judaism  during  the  Middle 
Ages  was  a  civilising  power,  in  fact  the  great  civilising  power, 
while  its  beneficent  action  was  repressed  by  a  barbarous  Chris- 
tendom. The  leading  shoot  of  civilisation,  both  material  and 
intellectual,  was  republican  Italy,  where  the  Jews,  though 
they  were  not  persecuted,  never  played  a  leading  part.  You 
may  read  through  Sismondi's  History  almost  without  being 
made  aware  of  their  existence.  Intellectually  superior  in  a 
certain  sense  no  doubt  they  were;  their  wealth  exempted  tliem 
from  manual  labour,  and  gave  them  an  advantage,  as  it  does 
now,  in  the  race  of  intelligence.  They  were  also  practically 
exempted  from  military  service.  They  preserved  Hebrew  and 
Oriental  learning,  and  to  them  Europe  owed  tlie  transmission 
of  the  works  of  Aristotle  through  Arabic  translations.  But  in 
their  medieval  roll  of  celebrated  names  the  great  majority  are 
those  of  Talmudists  or  Cabbalists.  The  most  illustrious  is 
that  of  Maimonides,  whose  influence  on  the  progress  of 
humanity  surely  was  not  very  great,  albeit  he  was  let  and 
hindered  only  by  the  narrow  and  jealous  orthodoxy  of  his  own 
people.  Jews  were  in  request  as  physicians,  though  they  seem 
to  have  drawn  their  knowledge  from  the  Arabians.  They  had 
much  to  do  with  the  foundation  of  the  medical  school  of 
Montpellier;  the  origin  of  that  at  Salerno  was  Benedictine. 
But  if  they  founded  a  medical  science,  what  became  of  the 
medical  science  which  they  founded?  At  the  close  of  the 
Middle  Ages  there  was  none.  A  Jewish  pliysician,  no  doubt 
the  most  eminent  of  his  class,  is  called  in  by  Innocent  VIII. 
His  treatment  is  transfusion  of  blood.  He  kills  three  boys  in 
the  process  and  then  runs  away.     Of  the  money  trade  the 


■  I 


4 


L'     -   'H 


I 
1 1' 


i,/ 


!'  (• 


I  ■ 


1 

i,' 
1 

fr 


V 

I 


264 


QUESTIONS  OF  THE   DAY. 


Jews  were  generally  tlie  m.asters,  though  in  Italy  that,  too,  was 
in  the  hands  of  native  houses,  such  as  the  Medici,  Bardi,  and 
Peruzzi,  while  at  a  later  period  the  Fuggers  of  Augsburg  were 
the  Kothschilds  of  Genuany.  But  the  Jews  never  were  the 
masters  of  the  grand  conuuerce  or  of  that  maritime  enterprise 
in  which  tlie  Middle  Ages  gloriously  closed.  Eosseeuw  Saint- 
Hilaire  has  observed  in  his  history  of  Spain  that  their  addic- 
tion was  to  petty  trade.  Showing  abundant  sympathy  for 
Jewish  wrongs,  he  iinds  himself  compelled  to  contrast  the 
"narrowness  and  rapacity"  of  their  connnerce  with  the  bold- 
ness and  grandeur  of  Arab  enterprise.^  The  slave  trade,  which 
in  the  early  Middle  Ages  was  in  Jewish  hands,  was  not  then 
the  reproach  that  it  is  now,  yet  it  never  was  a  noble  or  a 
beneficent  trade.  Spain  is  supposed  to  have  owed  her  fall  to 
the  expulsion  of  the  Jews,  but  the  acme  of  her  greatness  came 
after  their  exi)ulsion;  and  her  fall  was  due  to  despotism,  civil 
and  religious,  to  her  false  commercial  systeui,  to  the  diversion 
of  her  energy  from  industry  to  gold-seeking  and  conquest,  and 
not  least  to  the  overgrown  and  heterogeneous  empire  which 
was  the  supposed  foundation  of  lier  grandeur.  England,  in 
the  period  between  the  expulsion  of  the  Jews  under  Edward  I. 
and  their  readmission  under  Cromwell,  became  a  commercial 
nation  and  a  famous  naval  power;  and  tlie  greatness  thus 
achieved  was  English,  not  Gibeonite,  as  it  would  have  been 
under  Jewish  ascendancy ;  it  was  part  of  the  fulness  of  national 
life,  and  was  prolific  not  only  of  Whittingtons  and  Drakes,  but 
of  Shakespeares  and  '  icons.  As  financiers  it  is  likely  that 
the  Jews  were  useful  in  advancing  money  for  grea^  works; 
they  also  furnished  money  for  enterprises  such  as  Strongbow's 
expedition  to  Ireland.  But  the  assertion,  often  repeated,  that 
they  provided  the  means  for  building  the  churches,  abbeys, 
and  colleges  of  England  must  be  qualified  in  face  of  the  fact 
that  the  greater  part  of  tlie  edifices  is  of  dates  subsequent 
to  the  expulsion  of  the  Jews.  Salisbury  Cathedral  was  built 
before  the  expulsion.  J^ut  we  happen  to  know  that  the  forty 
thousand  marks  which  it  cost  were  supplied  by  contributions 

1  Histoire  (rKspadue,  Vol.  III.,  p.  147. 


at,  too,  was 
Bardi,  and 
^sburg  were 
er  were  the 
3  enterprise 
eeuw  Saint- 
tlieir  addic- 
tnpathy  for 
ontrast  the 
;h  the  bold- 
rade,  wliich 
as  not  then 
noble  or  a 
I  lier  fall  to 
itness  came 
otism,  civil 
le  diversion 
nquest,  and 
ipire  which 
England,  in 
•  Edward  [. 
commercial 
itness  thus 
have  been 
.  of  national 
Drakes,  but 
likely  that 
L'ea^  works; 
5trongbow's 
peated,  that 
les,  abbeys, 
of  the  fact 
subsequent 
al  Avas  built 
at  the  forty 
antributions 


THE  JEWISH   QUESTION. 


265 


from  the  Prebendaries,  collections  from  different  dioceses,  and 
grants  from  Alicia  de  Bruere  and  otlicr  benefactors.^ 

No  financial  or  material  advantage  at  all  events  could  have 
made  up  to  a  nation  for  the  ascendancy  of  a  tribe  of  alien 
usurers. 

Judaism  is  now  the  great  financial  power  of  Europe,  that  is, 
it  is  the  greatest  power  of  all.  It  is  no  longer  necessary,  out 
of  pity  for  it,  to  falsify  history,  and  traduce  Christendom. 

Of  the  two  works  on  which,  during  the  Middle  Ages,  Jewish 
intellect  was  chiefly  employed,  the  Cabbala  is  on  all  hands 
allowed  to  be  mystical  nonsense.  Of  tlie  Talmud,  Dr.  Farrar, 
assuredly  no  Jew-baiter,  in  his  Preface  to  a  volume  of  selec- 
tions from  it,  says : 

"  Wisdom  there  is  in  the  Tahiiud,  and  eloquence  and  high  morality  ; 
of  this  the  reader  may  learn  something  even  in  the  small  compass  of  the 
following  pages.  How  could  it  be  otherwise  when  we  bear  in  mind  that 
the  Talmud  fills  twelve  large  folio  volumes,  and  represents  the  main  lit- 
erature of  a  nation  during  several  h  i^Jred  years  ?  But  yet  I  venture  to 
say  that  it  would  be  impossible  to  find  less  wisdom,  less  eloquence,  and 
less  high  morality,  imbedded  in  a  vaster  bulk  of  wliat  is  utterly  valueless 
to  mankind,  —  to  say  nothing  of  those  parts  of  it  which  are  indelicate 
and  even  obscene.,  — in  any  other  national  literature  of  the  same  extent. 
And  even  of  the  valuable  residuum  of  true  and  holy  thoughts,  1  doubt 
whether  there  is  even  one  which  had  not  long  been  anticipated,  and 
which  is  not  found  more  nobly  set  forth  in  the  Scriptures  of  the  Old  and 
New  Testament."  2 

This  judgment  is  fully  borne  out  by  tlie  selections  wliich 
follow,  and  which  are  made  by  Mr.  Hershou,  a  known  Hebrew 
scholar,  on  an  impartial  principle.  It  is  supported  by  other 
independent  critics,  such  as  Thirlwall,  who  s})oke  of  the 
I'almud  as  an  ocean  of  nonsense.  The  writer  will  not  presume 
to  speak,  though  he  looks  ba(;k  upon  the  perusal  of  a  Latin 
translation  of  the  Mishna  as  one  of  the  least  pleasant  labours 
of  a  student's  life.     Dr.  Deutseh's  counterfeit  presentment  of 

1  See  Murray's  Handbook  to  tlw.  Cathedrals  uf  England.  Southern 
Division,  Part  I.,  p.  94. 

'■^  A  Tahmidic  Miscellanij.  Compiled  and  translated  by  Paul  Isaac 
Hershon,  with  introductory  preface  by  Kev.  F.  W.  Farrar,  D.I).,  F.H.S. 


it 

V 

1^ 

1 

i 

^1 


.  <  ■' 


'  f 


,i\  •    i 


1*1 


1 


f,, 

■'  ■ 

( 

Hi 

f 


200 


QUESTIONS  OF  THE   DAY. 


• 


'»    i 


the  Talmud,  to  which  Dr.  Fan-ar  refers,  is  a  standing  caT^^ion. 
In  every  page  of  Mr.  Hershon's  "  Talmudic  Miscellany  "  we 
have  such  things  as  this: 

"  There  were  two  things  which  God  first  thought  of  creating  on  the  eve 
of  the  Sabbath,  which,  however,  were  not  created  till  after  the  Sabbath 
had  closed.  The  first  was  fire,  which  Adam  by  divine  suggestion  drew 
forth  by  striking  together  two  stones  ;  and  the  second  was  the  mule,  pro- 
duced by  the  crossing  of  two  different  animals."  — P's«c7iim,  fol.  64, 
col.  1. 

"The  Rabbis  have  taught  that  there  are  three  reasons  why  a  person 
should  not  enter  a  ruin  :  1.  Because  he  may  be  suspected  of  evil  intent ; 
2.  Because  the  walls  might  tumble  upon  him;  3.  And  because  of  evil 
spirits  that  frequent  such  vla.cea.'"  —  Berachoth,  fo'.  3,  col.  1. 

"The  stone  which  Og,  King  of  Bashan,  meant  to  throw  upon  Israel  is 
the  subject  of  a  tradition  delivered  on  Sinai.  'The  camp  of  Israel  I  see,' 
he  said, '  extends  three  miles  ;  I  shall  therefore  go  and  root  up  a  mountain 
three  miles  in  extent  and  throw  it  upon  them.'  So  off  he  went,  and  find- 
ing such  a  mountain,  raised  It  on  his  head,  but  the  Holy  One  —  blessed  be 
He  1  —  sent  an  army  of  ants  against  him,  which  so  bored  the  mountain 
over  his  head  that  it  slipped  down  upon  his  shoulders,  from  which  he 
could  not  lift  it,  because  his  teeth,  protruding,  had  riveted  it  upon  him." 
—  Berachoth,  fol.  64,  col.  2. 

"Three  things  are  said  respecting  the  finger-naiis  :  He  who  trims  his 
nails  and  bnries  the  parings  is  a  pious  man  ;  he  who  burns  these  Is  a 
righteous  man  ;  but  he  who  throws  them  away  is  a  wicked  man,  for  mis- 
chance might  follow,  should  a  female  step  over  timm.'' —  Mocd  Katan 
fol.  18,  col.  1.1 

Abraham's  lieigJit,  according  to  the  Talmudists,  was  that  of 
seventy-four  men  put  togetlier.  His  food,  his  dress,  and  his 
strength  were  those  of  seventy-four  men.  He  built  for  the 
abode  of  his  seventeen  children  by  Keturah,  an  iron  city,  the 
walls  whereof  were  so  lofty  that  the  sun  never  penetrated 
them.  He  gave  them  a  bowl  full  of  precious  stones,  the 
brilliancy  of  which  supplied  them  with  light  in  the  absence  of 
the  sun.  He  had  a  precious  stone  suspended  from  his  neck, 
upon  which  every  sick  person  who  gazed  was  healed  of  his  dis- 
ease, and  when  he  died  God  hung  up  the  stone  on  the  sphere 
of  the  sun.  Before  his  time  there  was  no  such  thing  as  a 
1  Quoted  in  Hershon's  Miscellany. 


ilr 


THE  .JEWISH   QUESTION. 


267 


fllll 


ng  caT^*-,ion. 
sllany  "  we 


[ig  on  the  eve 
tlie  Sabbath 
gestiou  drew 
le  mule,  pro- 
him,  fol.  64, 

vhy  a  person 
:  evil  intent ; 
;ause  of  evil 

pon  Israel  is 
Israel  I  see,' 
1  a  mountain 
nt,  and  find- 
—  blessed  be 
;ie  mountain 
mi  which  he 
upon  him." 

fho  trims  his 
IS  these  is  a 
lan,  for  mis- 
locd  Katan, 


7!xs  that  of 
3S,  and  his 
It  for  the 
n  city,  the 
penetrated 
tones,  tlie 
absence  of 
his  neck, 
of  his  dis- 
;he  sphere 
hing  as  a 


beard;  but  as  many  mistook  Abraham  and  Isaac  for  each  other, 
Abraham  prayed  to  God  for  a  beard  to  distinguish  him,  and  it 
was  granted  him.  Every  one  has  a  thousand  malignant  sjiirits 
at  his  left  side,  and  ten  thousand  at  liis  right.  The  crowding 
at  the  schools  is  caused  by  their  pushing  in.  If  one  would 
discover  traces  of  their  presence,  he  lias  only  to  sift  some  ashes 
on  the  Hoor  at  his  bedside,  and  next  morning  lie  will  see  the 
footmarks  as  of  fo>vls.  If  lie  would  see  the  demons  tliem- 
selves,  lie  must  burn  to  ashes  the  afterbirth  of  a  iirst-born 
black  kitten,  the  offspring  of  a  first-born  black  cat,  put  some 
of  the  ashes  into  his  eyes,  and  he  will  not  fail  to  see  the 
demons.  The  medical  and  physical  apophthegms  of  the 
Talmud  do  not  give  much  evidence  of  science:  "dropsy  is  a 
sign  of  sin,  jaundice  of  hatred  without  a  cause,  and  quinsy  of 
slander";  "six  things  possess  medicinal  virtue:  cabbage, 
lung-wort,  beet-root,  water,  certain  parts  of  the  offal  of  animals, 
and,  in  the  opinion  of  some,  little  fishes."  Mr.  Hershon's  col- 
lection abounds  with  nonsense  on  this  subject  as  absurd  as 
anything  in  medieval  quackery.  Other  features  of  the  work 
are  an  Oriental  indelicacy,  and  a  pride  of  Eabbinical  learning 
which  treats  illiteracy  as  almost  criminal,  looking  down  upon 
the  illiterate  as  an  American  would  look  down  upon  the  negro. 
The  most  superstitious  of  Christian  writings  in  the  Dark  Ages 
could  not  be  more  tainted  with  demonology  and  Avitclicraft, 
nor  in  any  monkish  chronicle  do  we  find  fables  so  gross.  Few 
would  set  the  Talmud,  as  presented  by  Mr.  Hershon,  or  the 
Cabbala,  above  the  works  of  such  writers  as  Anselm,  Aquinas, 
the  author  of  "Imitatio  Christi,"  the  authors  of  hymns  and 
liturgical  compositions  of  the  Christian  Middle  Ages;  or,  in  the 
department  of  science,  above  the  works  of  Roger  Bacon. 

We  have  been  speaking,  be  it  observed,  of  the  Talmud  as 
the  work  and  monument  of  Jewish  intelligence  and  morality 
in  the  Dark  Ages ;  we  have  not  been  speaking  of  the  intelli- 
gence or  morality  of  the  Jews  of  the  present  day.  The  charge 
is  constantly  brought  against  Christendom  of  having  by  its 
barbarous  bigotry  repressed  the  beneficent  action  of  Jewish 
intellect,  which  would  otherwise  have  enlightened  and  civilised 


'  ,'' 


■'.. 


,!    i 


^■1 


:m 


!!| 


208 


(iUKSTIONS   OF   TIIH    DAY. 


flu 


il>*t 


tlie  world.  Tho  answer  is  apparontly  found  in  the  Cahbala 
and  the  Talmud.  I*>y  the  a(!Oouut  of  the  Jewish  historian 
(Iraetz,  it  would  seem  that  Rahbinical  ortliodoxy  was  not  less 
opposed  than  Tapal  ortliodoxy  to  seiencc,  philosophy,  and  cul- 
ture. Wo  are  led  to  believe  that,  at  last,  Talnmdic  bigotry 
and  obscurantism  had  i)revailed,  when  Judaism  was  rescued 
by  Moses  Mendelssohn,  who  himself  owed  his  emancipation  to 
Lessing.  Natlian  the  Wise  is  a  phih)Sopher  and  philanthropist 
of  the  eigliteenth  century,  not  a  Talmudic  Jew. 

Still  more  notable,  however,  than  the  absurdities  are  the 
passages  indicative  of  a  tribal  morality  which  prescribes  one 
mode  of  dealing  with  those  who  are,  and  another  mode  of 
dealing  with  those  who  are  not,  of  the  tribe. 

"If  the  ox  of  an  Israelite  bruise  tlie  ox  of  a  Gentile,  the  Israelite  is 
exempt  from  paying  damages  ;  l)ut  should  the  ox  of  a  Gentile  bruise  the 
ox  of  an  Israelite,  the  Gentile  is  bound  to  recompense  him  in  full."  — 
Bava  Kama,  fol.  08,  col.  1. 

"When  an  Israelite  and  a  Gentile  have  a  lawsuit  before  thee,  if  thou 
canst,  acquit  tlie  former  according  to  the  laws  of  Israel,  and  tell  the  latter 
such  is  our  law;  if  thou  canst  get  him  off  in  accordance  with  Gentile 
law,  do  so,  and  say  to  the  plaintiff  such  is  your  law  ;  but  if  he  cannot  be 
acquitted  according  to  either  law,  then  bring  forward  adroit  pretexts  and 
secure  his  acciuittal.  These  are  the  words  of  the  Rabbi  Ishmael.  Rabbi 
Akiva  says,  'No  false  pretext  should  be  brought  forward,  because,  if 
found  out,  the  name  of  (lod  would  be  blasphemed ;  but  if  there  be  no 
fear  of  that,  then  it  may  bo  adduced.'  "  —  lb.,  fol.  113,  col.  1. 

"  If  one  finds  lost  property  in  a  locality  where  a  majority  are  Israelites, 
he  is  bound  to  proclaim  it ;  but  he  is  not  boimd  to  do  so  if  the  majority 
be  Gentiles."  —  Bava  Metna,  fol.  24,  col.  1. 

"  Rabbi  Shenuiel  says  advantage  may  be  taken  of  the  mistakes  of  a 
Gentile.  He  once  bought  a  gold  plate  as  a  copper  of  a  Gentile  for  four 
zouzim,  and  then  cheated  him  out  of  one  zouz  into  the  bargain.  Rav 
Cahana  purchased  a  hundred  and  twenty  vessels  of  wine  from  a  Gentile 
for  a  hundred  zouzim,  and  swindled  him  in  the  payment  out  of  one  of  the 
hundred,  and  that  while  the  Gentile  assured  him  that  he  confidently 
trusted  to  his  honesty.  Rava  once  went  parts  with  a  Gentile  and  bought 
a  tree  which  was  cut  up  into  logs.  Tliia  done,  he  bade  his  servant  go  and 
pick  him  out  the  largest  logs,  but  to  be  .sure  to  take  no  more  than  the 
proper  number,  because  the  Gentile  knew  how  many  there  were.  As 
Rav  Aghi  was  walking  abroad  one  day  he  saw  some  grapes  growing  in  a 


THE   .11: WISH   CiUHSTION. 


269 


roadside  vinoynrd,  and  sont  his  servant  to  sco  wlinm  tbry  boIonRod  to. 
'  If  they  bolonj^  to  a  (Icntile,'  lie  said,'  liriiii^  some  lioro  to  nie  ;  but  if  they 
belong;  to  an  iKraelitc,  do  not  nii'ddlc,  with  tlicni.'  The  owner,  who  hap- 
pened to  be  in  liui  vineyard,  overlieard  tlio  liabbi's  order  and  called  out, 
'What!  is  it  lawful  to  rob  a  (ientilc  ?  '  'Oh,  no,' said  tiie  Habbi  eva- 
sively ;  '  a  (Jcntile  might  sell,  but  an  Israelite  would  not.'  "  —  Baoa  Kama, 
fol.  118,  col.  2.1 

The  prinniplc  which  animates  those  passa<:]fes  appears  in  a 
milder  form  in  t\w  llchnnv  Scriptures,  whicli  li(!enso  perpetual 
bondage  as  well  as  the  taking  of  interest  in  the  case  of  a  (len- 
tile,  not  in  that  of  a  Hebrew.  Sucli  a  princiide,  however 
mildly  expressed,  Avas  too  likely  to  be  extended  in  practice. 
Dr.  Edersheim,  the  author  of  "The  Life  aiul  Times  of  Jesus 
the  Messiali,"  is  favouralde  enough  on  religious  grounds  to  the 
Jews;  but  in  describing  their  relations  to  the  (rentilcs,  as 
regulated  by  the  Talmud,  he  says: 

"To  begin  with,  every  Gentile  child,  so  soon  as  born,  was  to  be 
regarded  as  unclcian.  Those  who  actually  worshipped  mountains,  hills, 
bushes,  etc.,  —  in  short,  gross  idolaters  —  should  be  cut  down  with  the 
sword.  But  as  it  was  impossible  to  exterminate  heathenism,  Rabbinical 
legislation  kept  certain  definite  objects  in  view,  which  may  be  thus  sum- 
marised :  To  prevent  Jews  from  being  inadvertently  led  into  Idolatry  ; 
to  avoid  all  participation  in  idolatry  ;  not  to  do  anything  which  might 
aid  the  heathen  in  their  worship;  and,  beyond  all  this,  not  to  give 
pleasure,  or  even  help,  to  heatliens.  The  latter  involved  a  most  dan- 
gerous principle,  capable  of  almost  indefinite  application  by  fanaticism. 
Even  the  Mishna  goes  so  far  as  to  forbid  aid  to  a  motlier  in  the  hoiu'  of 
her  need,  or  nourishment  to  her  babe,  in  order  luit  to  bring  up  a  child 
for  idolatry  !  But  this  is  not  all.  Heathens  were,  indeed,  not  to  be 
precipitated  into  danger,  but  yet  not  to  bo  delivered  from  it.  Indeed, 
an  isolated  teacher  ventures  even  upon  this  statement :  '  The  best  among 
the  Gentiles,  kill ;  the  best  among  serpents,  crush  its  head.'  Even  more 
terrible  was  the  fanaticism  which  directed  that  heretics,  traitors,  and 
those  who  had  left  the  Jewish  faith  should  be  thrown  into  actual  danger, 
and,  if  they  were  in  such,  all  means  for  their  escape  removed.  No  inter- 
course of  any  kind  was  to  be  had  with  such,  —  not  even  to  invoke  their 
medical  aid  in  case  of  danger  to  life,  since  it  was  deemed  that  he  who 
had  to  do  with  heretics  was  in  imminent  peril  of  becoming  one  himself, 

1  Hershon's  Miscellany. 


III! 


•/ 


!i, 


1'    i 


i 

jlfi 

, 

'      >• 

■B^^P 


OH 


'    I 


270 


QIIKSTIONS   OF   'I'lIK    DAY. 


and  that,  if  ii  In^rotin  returned  to  tlin  true  fiiitli,  he  .should  die  at  once,  — 
partly,  pri)l)ai)ly,  to  expiaUs  hi.s  guilt,  and  partly  from  fear  of  re- 
lapse." ' 

Not  l(^ss  signifioiint  mv.  the  Tiilinuditj  ox|)re.ssi()iis  of  tril);il 
pride  Jind  contempt  of  common  Immunity.  "  All  Israelites  are 
princes."  ''AH  Israelites  arc  holy."  "  llai)[)y  areye,  ()  Israel, 
for  ((Very  one  of  yon,  from  the  least  even  to  the  greatest,  is  a 
great  piiilosophcjr."  "As  it  is  impossible  for  the  world  to  be 
withont  air,  so  also  is  it  im[)ossible  for  tiio  world  to  be  witli- 
ont  Israel."  "()n(^  empire  cometh  and  another  |)asseth  away, 
bnt  Isnud  al)iilt!th  for  ever."  "The  world  was  created  only 
for  Israel:  none  are  called  the  children  of  God  bnt  Israel; 
none  are  beloved  before  God  bnt  Israel."  "Ten  measures  of 
wisdom  came  down  to  the  world.  The  land  of  Israel  received 
nine,  the  rest  of  the  world  bnt  one." 

Critics  of  Judaism  are  accused  of  bigotry  of  race,  as  well  as 
of  bigotry  of  religion.  Tiio  accusation  comes  strangely  from 
those  who  style  tliemselves  the  Chosen  I'eople,  make  race  a 
religion,  and  treat  all  races  except  their  own  as  Gentiles  and 
unclean. 

The  notion  that  the  Jews  are  to  be  maltreated  because  their 
ancestors  by  the  hand  of  Pilate  crucified  Christ,  has  long  been 
discarded  and  derided  by  all  enlightcnied  Christians.  But 
equally  baseless  is  the  notion  that  Cliristianity  owes  homage 
to  Judaism,  has  any  particular  interest  in  it,  or  any  particular 
duty  concerning  it.  To  Talnuulic  Judaism,  at  all  events,  it 
owes  nothing.  Whether  in  its  origin  it  owed  anything  to  tlie 
liberal  school  of  Hillel,  we  cannot  tell.  The  Talmud  is  a  vast 
repertory  of  legalism,  formalism,  ceremonialism,  and  casuistry. 
Nothing  can  be  more  opposed  to  the  spontaneity  of  conscience, 
trust  in  principle,  and  preference  of  the  spirit  to  the  letter 
characteristic  of  the  Gospel,  in  which  even  the  Ten  Command- 
ments are  superseded  by  the  Two.  The  pervadi  ig  intention 
of  the  Talmud  is,  by  multiplying  ceremonial  barriers,  to  keep 
the  Chosen  People  separate  from  the  Gentiles  among  whom 

Vol.  I.,  pp.  90,  91. 


io  af,  once,  — 
fear  of  re- 


is  of  tril);il 
a'atilites  arc* 
ro,  ()  Israel, 
rcatest,  is  a 
world  to  be 
to  be  with- 
3setli  away, 
reated  only 
but  Israel; 
measures  of 
lel  received 

!,  as  well  as 
Lugoly  from 
lake  racie  a 
(entiles  and 

!cause  their 
s  long  been 
:ians.  But 
ves  homage 
r  particular 
1  events,  it 
hing  to  tlie 
id  is  a  vast 
i  casuistry, 
conscience, 
the  letter 
Command- 
5  intention 
ivs,  to  keep 
long  whom 


TMK   J K WISH   (iUKSTION. 


271 


they  lived;  in  other  words,  to  perpetuate  the  tribe.  Chris- 
tianity is  a  religion  of  humanity.  Maptism  is  a  rite  of  initia- 
tion into  a  universal  brotherhood.  Cit'cumcision,  the  Jewish 
circumcision  at  all  events,  is  the  mark  of  (enrolment  in  an 
exclusive  tribe.  The  fundamental  antagonism  of  Judaism  to 
Christianity  was  shown,  not  only  in  the  murder  of  Christ,  but 
in  the  bitter  persecution  of  his  f(jllowers.  Christianity  had 
its  antecedents,  but  it  begins  with  Christ:  it  has  no  relation  to 
Talmudie  ffudaism  but  those  of  reaiition  and  secession. 

We  have  given  up  the  fanej  that  the  Jew  is  accursed.     We 
must  cease  to  believe  that  he  is  sacred.     Israel  was  the  fa- 
vourite people  of  Jehovah,  as  every  tribe  was  the  favourite  of 
its  own  god.     The  belief  that  the  Father  of  all  and  the  God 
of  justice  had  a  favourite  race,  made  with  it  a  covenant  sealed 
with  the  barbarous  rite  of  circumcision,  pledged  himself  to 
promote  its  interest  against  those  of  other  raises,  destroyed  all 
the  innocent  first-born  of  Egypt  to  force  Pharaoh  to  let  it  go, 
licensed  its  aggrandisement  by  concpiest,  stopped  the  sun  in 
heaven  to  give  it  time  to  slaughter  people  whose  lands  it  had 
invaded  without  a  cause,  and  gratified  its  malignity  by  enjoin- 
ing it  when  it  took  one  of  the  cities  which  were  given  it  for  its 
inheritance  in  save  alive  nothing  that  breathed,  ought  now  to 
be  laid  aside,  with  all  its  corollaries  and  consequences,  includ- 
ing the  passionate,  and,  to  the  Hebrew,  somewhat  offensive  ef- 
fort to  convert  this  particular  race  to  Christianity.     We  have 
been  told  from  the  pulpit  that  at  the  last  day  the  world  will 
be  judged  by  a  Jew,  and  a  religious  lady  once  suggested  to  a 
Jew  who  had  been  converted  to  Christionity  that  he  should  go 
on  circumcising  his  sons.     We  shall  have  little  right  to  com- 
plain of  the  tribal  arrogance  of  the  Jew  so  long  as  the  Old 
Testament  continues  to  be  indiscriminately  read  in  our  churches 
and  we  persist,  by  talking  of  a  chosen  people,  in  ascribing 
favouritism  to  the  Almighty.     The  belief  that  "  God  has  made 
of  one  blood  all  nations  of  men  to  dwell  on  the  face  of  the 
earth,"   is   the   foundation  of   a  religion  of  humanity,  and 
Judaism  is  its  practical  denial. 
Jesus  called  himself  the  Son  of  Man.     He  was  a  Galilean, 


4 


\H 


1 

■  i- 

A: 

4 

! 

1    ■■ 

i 

ir^ 


272 


til  KsrlONS   (H'    I'lli;    DAY. 


<l, 


I 


1  » 

I. 


!    . 

|i  i 

i    ' 

^!i 

1 

'1 

1 1 

i 

r'l 


'0 '  1 

i 

1 

i 

1 

r 

that  is,  in  lii,ij;li  Jowisli  ostinuitioii,  an  inforior  Jow,  Rotting 
iisido  the  "fiidlcss  "  or  "  jirolit  less "  gciicalogios  which  tho 
writer  (»r  th(>  l-'irsl.  Kpi.sth'  to  Timothy  (dasscs  witii  fables  and 
bids  us  not  to  ht'cd.  Horn  into  ihuhiisni,  ini  acuiopttMl  it  and 
"  fulfiUed  "  all  its  "  rightnonsness,"  while  \w  must  have  known, 
as  his  antagonists  did,  that  his  principh's  would  subvert  it. 
Because  he  did  this,  we  have  taken  upon  our  understandings 
and  hearts  a.  belief  in  the  divine  authority  of  tlu^  Old  T(>sta- 
ment,  that  is,  of  tlu^  whole  mass  of  Hebrew  literature;  wo  hav«! 
bound  ourselves  to  see  inspiration,  not  only  in  its  more  ele- 
vated, spiritual,  and  moral  parts,  but  in  those  which  are  not 
elevated,  spiritual,  or  oven  moral.  Wo  torture  our  consciences 
into  ai)proval  of  the  spoiling  of  the  Egyptiinis  by  a  fraud,  tho 
slaughter  of  the  Canaanites,  the  slaying  of  Sisera,,  the  hewing 
of  Agag  in  pieces  befon;  tlu!  Lord,  and  David's  legacy  of  ven- 
geance; our  intidleets  into  the  acc(!i)tance  of  the  liook  of 
Chronicles  as  authentic  history,  and  of  such  miracles  as  tho 
stoi)ping  of  the  sun,  the  conversion  of  Lot's  wife  into  a  pillar 
of  salt,  the  sjjeaking  ass  of  IJalaam,  the  destruction  of  th" 
children  who  nuxrked  Klisha  by  a  bear,  and  the  sojourn  of 
Jonah  in  the  belly  of  a  whale.  In  chur(di  wo  read,  with  psalms 
of  universal  beauty,  psalms  of  ()ri(Mital  vindictiveness.  Wo 
constrain  ourselves  to  see  divine  meaning,  not  only  in  the 
sublime  passages  of  Isaiah,  but  in  tho  obscuirest  and  most 
incoherent  utterances  of  his  brother  prophets.  Wo  read  theo- 
logical mysteries  into  a  love-song  because  it  is  a  part  of  tho 
sacred  volume.  Till  this  superstition  is  cast  out  we  shall  ill 
appreciate  what  is  really  divine  in  the  Old  Testament.  Not 
in  the  darken-  side  of  tho  I'uritan  character  alone  are  the  evil 
effects  of  this  idolatry  to  be  traced. 

There  was  much  that  was  infinitely  memorable,  hut  recent 
criticism  forbids  us  to  believe  that  there  was  anything  miracu- 
lous, in  the  history  of  Israel.  Whatever  may  have  been  the 
local  origin  of  the  Jews,  who  spoke  the  same  language  as  the 
other  inhabitants  of  Canaan,  the  race,  we  may  be  sure,  was 
cast  in  the  sanu'  primeval  mould  as  the  kindred  races.  The 
story  of  the  Patriarchs  and  the  Exodus  being  in  all  its  parts 


THK  .IK WISH    C^UKJSTI(>N. 


978 


J- 


—  tho  primitivo  thoophanioa  in  tho  tents  of  Patriarchs,  the 
sup.'rnatural   hiitli   ol    Isaac,  tho  destruction  of  Sodom  and 
(fomorrah,  the  transformation  of  Lot's  wife,  the  wrestling  of 
.Tacol)   with   dehovah,   the    marvellous   story  of   Joseph,   the 
miraculous  multiplication  of  the   Israelites,  the  competition 
between  the  envoys  of  J.diovah  and  tiu^  Egyptian  magicians, 
the  plagues  of  Egy|)t,  tho  drying  ui)  of  the  lUnl  Sea,  tlu!  forty 
years'  wandering  in  tho  barren  Sinaitic  desert,  the  [)rodigies 
which  there  took  pbice,  the  giants  of  Caiman,  and  the  stopping 
of  tho  sun  — manifestly  poetical,  it  would  seem  that  the  narra- 
tive as  a  whole  must,  in  accordaiuic  with  a  well-known  canon 
of  criticism,  bo  dismissed  from  history  and  ivlogatiul  to  another 
domain.*     Of  the  exact  process  by  which  the  liner  spirits  of 
Israel  attained  a  tribal  monotheism,  which  at  last  verged  on 
monotheism   pure   and  simple,  and  carried   with   it  a  1  lyh 
morality,  while  the  grosser  si)irits  wore  always  hankering  after 
the  groves  and  images  of  their  idolatry,  no  oxa(!t  account  has 
been  given  us,  though  the  prophets,  as  moral  reformers,  clearly 
played  a  great  part  in  it.     liut  it  involved  no  miracle,  since 
without   miracle   Socrates   and   l>hito,  Marcus  Aurelius   and 
Kpictetus  could  rise  to  the  same  level.     Tho  peculiar  service 
rendered  to  humanity  by  Judaism  was  the  identification  of 
religion  with  morality  through  the  conception  of  a  God  of 
righteousness  and  of  justice  and  mercy  as  his  law.     Against 
which  wo  have  to  set  tho  dark  shadow  cast  on  our  spiritual  life 
by  the  cruel  fanaticism  of  tho  Jvw  and  the  sombre  denuncia- 
tions of  his  prophets.     The  doctrine  of  the  immortality  of  tho 
soul  was  extraneous  to  Judaism,  and  was  rejected  by  one  of  its 
sects;  the  tribal  idea  of  immortality  being  tho  perpetuation  of 
the  family  in  the  tribe. 
Nor  is  there  anything  miraculous,  penal,  or  even  mysterious, 

Ut  seems  not  unlikely  from  analogy  that  the  story  of  the  Exodus  may 
be  in  part  an  explanation  of  the  institution  of  the  Passover  and  other 
Jewish  rites  and  customs  of  which  the  origin  was  lost.  The  figures  of 
Jewish  captives  on  Egyptian  monuments  may  be  accounted  for  by  Egyp- 
tian  conquest.  Nothing  can  be  less  satisfactory  than  Kenan's  attempt  to 
rationalise  the  story  of  the  Patriarchs  and  the  Exodus. 

T 


u 


274 


QUESTIONS   OF   THE   DAY. 


;'.  ':  11 


I  I 


about  the  Jewish  dispersion  or  its  commercial  character.  The 
case  of  Israel  is  one,  thougli  incomparably  tlie  most  sharply 
defined,  as  well  as  the  most  meir.  orable,  of  a  number  of  cases 
of  parasitism,  to  borrow  that  phrase  from  botany.  Other  cases 
are  tiiose  of  the  Armenians,  the  Parsecs,  the  Greeks  of  the 
dispersion,  ancient  and  modern,  and  humblest  of  all,  the 
Gipsies,  by  the  disappearance  of  whose  wandering  camp  with 
its  swarthy  brood  from  the  country  wayside  a  feature  more 
dear  than  respectable  has  been  taken  from  the  landscape  of 
rural  life  in  England.  Tlie  Italians,  when  their  country  was 
in  the  hands  of  foreign  powers,  showed  a  tendency  of  the  same 
kind.  The  dispersion  of  the  Jews  was  anterior  to  the  destruc- 
tion of  Jerusalem,  for  Paul  found  Jewish  settlements^  mer- 
cantile no  doubt,  wherever  he  went.  It  may  have  begun  with 
the  transplantation  to  Babylon,  and  have  been  extended  by  the 
transplantation  to  Egypt  under  the  Ptolemies.  But  its  prin- 
cipal cause  probably  v;as  the  narrowness  of  the  Jewish  terri- 
tory, combined  with  the  love  of  gain  in  the  Jew.  The  Hebrew 
was  the  near  kinsman  of  tlie  Phoenician,  who  by  the  narrowness 
of  his  territory  and  his  love  of  gain  was  likewise  impelled  to 
adventure;  and  Jewish  parasitism  is  the  counterpart,  under 
another  form,  of  that  Phoenician  colonisation  which,  unlike  the 
colonisation  of  the  Greek,  was  strictly  mercantile  in  its  aim. 
The  land  of  the  Jew  was  not  so  maritime  as  that  of  the 
Phoenician ;  it  had  not  such  harbours,  such  store  of  timber  for 
ship-building  close  to  the  water,  or  such  sites  for  seaboard 
cities  like  Tyre  and  Sidon.  Moreover  when  the  Jewish  char- 
acter was  being  formed,  the  Philistine  held  the  coast.  Appar- 
ently, there  was  a  religious  party  in  Judea  which  wished  to 
make  the  people  simple  a,nd  pious  tillers  of  the  soil,  and  from 
which  emanated  tliat  ideal  polity  of  husbandmen  with  heredi- 
tary lots  and  a  year  of  jubilee,  ascribed  by  its  framers  to  the 
great  lawgiver  of  the  race.  But  the  trading  instinct  was  too 
strong.  In  the  stories  of  tlie  patriarch  who  bought  the  birth- 
right of  his  hungry  brother,  of  the  Jewish  vizier  who  taught 
Pharaoh  how  to  obtain  the  surrender  of  all  the  freeholds  of  his 
people  by  taking  advantage  of  the  famine,  and  of  the  Hebrews 


THE  JEWISH   QUESTION. 


276 


who  spoiled  the  Egyptians  by  pretending  to  borrow  jewels 
which  they  never  meant  to  return,  we  see  the  gleamings  of  a 
cliaracter  wliich  was  not  likely  to  be  content  witli  the  moderate 
gains  of  a  small  farming  community. 

Jewish  parasitism,  still  to  use  the  botanic  metaphor,  could 
not  fail  to  be  confirmed  by  the  fall  of  Jerusalem,  which 
deprived  the  dispersed  nationality  of  its  centre,  though  the 
holy  city  even  in  its  desolation  remained  the  Mecca  of 
Judaism.  Kenan  thinks  that  in  the  period  which  followed, 
Israel  took  up  extraneous  elements  by  conversion,  so  that  the 
supposed  purity  of  race  is  imaginary,  and  the  identity  of 
feature  is  only  the  imprint  of  a  common  dwelling-place  and 
mode  of  life ;  in  which  case  the  rhapsodies  of  "  Daniel  Deronda  " 
have  little  meaning.  There  is  a  passage  in  the  Talmud  which 
suggests  that  the  putative  descent  of  a  Gentile  from  the  ten 
lost  tribes  might  legalise  intermarriage  with  him.^  But 
nationality  was  preserved  by  the  Mosaic  law,  the  Talmud,  and 
circumcdsion,  the  last  being  probably  the  strongest  bond  of  all. 
"That  the  Jews,"  says  Spinoza,  "have  maintained  themselves 
so  long  in  spite  of  their  disorganised  or  dispersed  condition,  is 
not  at  all  to  be  wondered  at  when  it  is  considered  how  they 
separated  themselves  from  all  other  nationalities  in  such  a  way 
as  to  bring  upon  themselves  the  hatred  of  all,  and  that,  not 
only  by  external  rites  contrary  to  those  of  other  nations,  but 
also  by  the  sign  of  circumcision,  which  they  most  religiously 
retain." 

Any  other  race  of  strong  vitality  with  the  same  bonds  and 
barriers  might  have  retained  their  nationality  equally  well. 
The  Parsees,  though  a  nnicli  weaker  community  in  their  origin, 
have  retained  tlieir  separate  existence  for  eleven  centuries. 
Tlie  Gipsias  appear  to  liave  retained  their  separate  existence 
for  five  centuries.  There  is  therefore  nothing  miraculous 
about  the  wandering  Jew,  nor  need  we  suppose  that  he  is  the 
special  object  eUher  of  the  wrath  or  the  favour  of  heaven. 

Circumcision,  deemed  by  Spinoza  the  bond  of  Judaism,  is  a 

1  See  Yevamoth,  fol.  10,  cul.  2,  quoted  in  Herslion's  Talmmlic  Miscel- 
lany, p.  134. 


,  v 

i 


!   1  ) 


ill' 


f  1:1 
1  ri 


Si'   i.ji  I 

*  *  r       i    ; 

;  J  i:     i    ; 

-  ■  ,1  'j  i: 


S' 


270 


QUESTIONS  OF  THE  DAY. 


.u 


-Jl 


|!li 


II 


t,.-  , 
f  I. 


»    ; 

li 

1' 

j 

■   !  i 

1 

t 

lil 

practice  which,  if  Jews  are  to  be  citizens,  and  citizens  are  to 
be  patriots,  owing  the  community  not  bare  obedience  but  the 
allegiance  of  the  heart,  governments  would  seem  entitled  to 
restrain.  It  has  nothing  to  do  with  religious  opinion,  nor,  in 
repressing  it,  would  religious  liberty  be  infringed.  It  is  a 
barbarous  tribal  rite,  the  object  of  which  is  to  cut  off  the 
members  of  the  tribe  from  tiio  rest  of  mankind,  and  which  per- 
formed on  an  infant  dedicates  him  for  life,  without  his  own 
consent,  to  a  social  antagonism  not  less  contrary  to  his  proper 
relations  with  his  fellow  citizens  tlian  it  is  obsolete  and 
senseless.  That  Jewish  circumcision  was  really  tribal,  the 
account  of  its  origin  ^  seems  to  prove.  That  it  has  served  the 
purpose  of  tribal  isolation  since  the  dispersion  of  the  Jews  is 
certain.  Nor  could  a  more  effective  badge  or  barr;  er  have  been 
devised. 

Israel  henceforth  definitely  became  ^-hat  it  has  always 
remained,  a  tribe  scattered  yet  united,  sojourning  in  all  com- 
munities, blending  with  none,  and  forming  a  nation  within 
each  nation.  The  natural  tendency  of  a  race  without  a  country 
was  not  to  agriculture  but  to  such  trades  as  the  Jcm^  has  plied, 
especially  the  money  trade.  The  insecurity  and  uncertainty 
of  his  residence  would  deter  him  from  owning  property  which 
could  not  easily  be  removed.  Habit  became  ingrained  and  the 
attempts  to  form  agricultural  colonies  of  the  Jews  at  the  present 
day  appear  to  be  uniformly  unsuccessful.  Laurence  Oliphant 
was  interested  in  these  experiments,  feeling  that "  the  great  fault 
and  weakness  of  the  Jews  was  their  inability  for  handiwork; 
and  to  train  even  a  few  into  that  and  into  a  co-operative  man- 
ner of  life  would  be  a  great  gain."^  But  the  trading  instinct 
seems  to  have  been  too  inveterate  even  when  Jews  have  been 
cprried  back  to  tlieir  own  land.  The  Jew  has  thus  worn 
everywhere  the  unpopular  aspect  of  an  intruder,  who  by  his 

1  Genesis  xvii.  10-14  ;  Exodus  iv.  24-20.  If  circumcision  is  not  tribal, 
but  in  the  broad  sense  religious,  what  is  its  religious  import  and  wliy 
should  it  be  confined  to  race  ? 

2  3Iemoirs  of  the  Life  of  Laurence  Oliphant,  Vol,  II.,  p.  231.  By 
Margaret  Oliphant  W.  Oliphant. 


THE  JEWISH  QUESTION. 


277 


JM' 


financial  skill  was  absorbing  the  Avealth  of  the  community 
without  adding  to  it.  Not  to  produce  but  to  make  a  market 
of  everything  has  been  his  general  tendency  and  forte.  Among 
other  things  he  has  made  a  nuirket  of  war.  He  bought  Chris- 
tian captives  and  spoils  of  the  barbarian  invaders  of  tlie  Roman 
Empire.  He  bought  up  at  forced  sales  the  property  of  those 
who  were  departing  for  the  Crusades.  He  has  constantly 
followed  in  the  wake  of  armies,  making  his  profit  out  of  the 
liavoc  and  out  of  the  recklessness  of  the  soldier.  General 
Grant  found  it  necessary  to  banish  Jews  from  his  camp.  On 
the  field  of  Austerlitz  Marshal  Lannes  bids  one  who  accosts 
him  to  wait  till  he  has  stopped  the  depredations  of  the  Jews. 
That  the  Jew  clings  not  only  to  his  religion  but  to  his 
nationality,  and  that  the  two  are  blended  together,  or  rather 
are  identical,  can  hardly  be  doubted  when  we  find  in  a  Jewish 
Catechism  such  a  passage  as  this : 

"  Q.   Wliat  other  ordinances  lias  God  made  to  prevent  our  falling  into 
sin? 

"^.  Those  which  forbid  our  associating  with  bad  men  or  intermarry- 
ing with  wicked  and  idolatrous  nations. 

"  '  Thoushalt  not  follow  a  nuiltitude  to  do  evil.'  —  Exod.  xxiii.  2. 
'"Neither  shalt  thou  make  marriage  with  them  (the  nations), 
thy  daughter  thou  shalt  not  give  to  his  son,  nor  his  daughter 
shalt  thou  take  unto  thy  son.'  —  Deut.  vil.  J5. 
"  Q.   Is  this  latter  command  important  ? 

"  A.  Yes,  it  is  of  the  greatest  moment,  and  the  experience  of  the  past 
has  shown  its  importance. 
"  Q.    In  what  manner  ? 

"  A.   Whenever  our  people  have  intermarried  with  other  nations,  they 
have  fallen  into  their  idolatries. 

"  '  But  they  were  mingled  among  the  heathen  and  learned  their 
works  ;  and  tlioy  served  their  idols  which  were  a  snare  unto 
them.'  — Ps.  cvi.  ,'34,  ,35. 
"  Q.   Does  the  law  lay  much  stross  upon  this  precept  ? 
".(4.   Yes,  we  are  repeatedly  enjoined  to  keep  from  admixture  of  race, 
and  many  of  the  laws  relating  to  the  soil  are  referable  to  this  subject." 

Again, 

"  Q.    Are  we  commanded  still  to  keep  ourselves  distinct  from  other 
nations  ? 


„.| 


1  "1  I 


■  1 


ni\i  •!'" 


278 


QUESTIONS   OF  THE    DAY. 


'    I 


l^'^'.< 


m 


i 


lih  r" 


If;  ¥ 


I 


f 

life 


''■^.  Assuredly;  we  may  love  them  as  ourselves,  help  them  in  their 
need,  and  labour  with  them  for  the  good  of  our  iellow-creatures,  but  we 
must  not  intermarry  with  them,  lest  we  should  be  led  away  from  the 
Law."i 

The  Eoniun  Catholic  Church,  it  is  true,  discourages  mixed 
marriages  on  religious  grounds,     l^ut  slio  does  not  teach  her 
children  that  "assuredly  tliey  are  a  nation,"  and  she  does  try 
to  bring  all  nuudund  within  her  fold.      If  tlie  Jews,  as  one  of 
their  chief  Kabbis  seems  to  intimate,  are  not  a  nation  but  a 
clmrch,  why  do  they  not  proselytise?     How  came  it  to  be  said 
of  them,  by  one  of  their  own  race,  that  they  no  more  desire 
to  make  converts  than  docs  the  House  of  Lords?     However, 
supposing  religion  to  be  the  bond,  it  is  the  religion  of  Moses. 
Does  not  the  religion  of  IMoses  separate  the  people  of  Jehovah 
from  mankind?    The  Eastern  .few,  the  Russian  or  Polish  Jew, 
and  the  orthodox  Jew  everywhere,  it  appears,  still  hold  by  the 
Talmud.      Mr.  Hershon  says  that  "  to  the  orthodox  Jew  the 
Tahnud  is  like  the  encircling  ocean,—  inserts  itself  into  and 
makes  itself  felt  in  every  nook  and  corner  of  his  existence, 
like  an  atmosphere  encompasses  the  whole  round  of  his  being, 
penetrates  into  all  centres  of  vitality,  presses  with  incumbent 
weight  upon  every  class  irrespective  of  age  or  sex  or  rank,  is 
all-inspiring,  all-including,  and  all-controlling,  covers  in  the 
regard  of  the  illuminated  the  whole  field  of  life,  and  with  its 
principles  affects,  or  ought  to  affect,  every  thought  and  every 
action  of  every  member  of  the  Jewish  state."     The  wealthy 
and  enlightened  Jew  of  Loudon,  l^iris,  or  New  York,  perhaps, 
is  no  longer  Talmudic;  his  religion  is  probably  Theism  com- 
bined with  a  vague  belief  in  the  sanctity  and  the  superior 
destiny  of  his  race;  yet  even  he  keeps  himself  much  apart  from 
the  Gentiles,  and  if  he  remains  a  Jew  at  all  he  must  observe 
the  law  of  Moses,  that  is,  a  separatist  law.    In  fact  those  who 
have  studied  the  subject  carefully  say  that  alike  by  the  rich 
Jew  of  Bayswater  and  the  middle  class  Jew  of  Highbury  the 
safeguards  of  tribalism  are  kept  as  far  as  possible  without 

»  Jewish  School  Books  —  No.  1 .     The  La  lo  of  Moses,  a  Ca  tech  ism  of  th  e. 
Jewish  Religion,  new  edition,  pp.  08,  09.     By  the  Rev.  A.  P.  Meudes. 


THE  JEWISH  QUESTION. 


279 


j'ii 


actual  offence  to  Gentile  society.  The  "  Polish  "  Jew,  alike  in 
Poland  and  in  Whitccliapel,  is  still  strongly  Talmudic.  If  the 
Jew  keeps  Christian  servants  in  his  liouse  it  is  to  do  for  him 
wliat  he  is  not  permitted  to  do  for  himself  on  the  Habljiith. 
By  making  this  use  of  the  heathen  he  shows  tliat  Moab  is  still 
his  wash  pot. 

That  the  Jews  have,  as  a  rule,  observed  the  laws  and  per- 
formed their  civic  duties  in  tlie  countries  of  their  sojourn,  no 
one  will  deny,  and  it  was  natural  that  they  should  not  take 
more  upon  tliem  than  they  could  hcdp  of  public  imposts  which 
to  them  were  unsweetened  by  patriotism.  In  countries  where 
military  service  is  part  of  the  duties  of  a  citizen,  as  it  is  in 
Germany,  they  have  not  sought  to  evade  it,  though  tliey  do 
not  voluntarily  enlist.  It  is  understood  that  they  behaved 
well  as  soldiers  in  the  German  army.  Wealth  has  inclined 
them  to  conservatism,  and  the  stories  about  their  sinister 
activities  in  the  French  llevolution  are  fables,  though  Karl 
Marx  and  Lassalle  were  the  founders  of  Socialism,  and  Judaism 
is  believed  to  have  contributed  its  quota  to  Nihilism  in  llussia. 
When  a  Jew  plays  revolutionist,  we  may  generally  expect  to 
see  him  top  the  part.  To  top  the  part  is  natural  wlien  it  is 
played  in  a  spirit  of  exploitation.  Some  Jews  have  been 
noted  as  citizens  for  beneficence  not  confined  to  their  own 
tribe.  It  is  likely,  too,  that  in  lands  where  the  Jew  has  been 
long  established,  tlie  sentiment  of  home  lias  grown  strong 
enough  to  countervail  that  of  tribal  nationality  in  liis  breast, 
and  to  make  removal  very  cruel.  Still,  lie  is  a  Jew  dwelling 
among  Gentiles.  He  is  one  of  the  Chosen  People.  He  has  a 
nationality  apart,  with  Messianic  hopes,  more  or  less  definite, 
of  its  own,  and  vague  anticipations  of  future  ascendancy.  It 
seems  impossible  that  any  man  should  belong  in  heart  to  two 
nationalities  and  be  a  ]jatriot  of  each.  He  nuiy  be  a  conform- 
ing and  dutiful  citizen  of  the  (community  anumg  which  he 
dwells  as  long  as  there  is  no  conflict  of  national  interest.  But 
when  there  is  a  confl-ct  of  national  interests  his  attachment  to 
his  own  rationalit_y  Wil  prevail. 

Mr.  Oliphant,  in  liis  "Land  of  Gilead,"  dwells  more  than 


I  r  i 


,il 


^  i 


II 


if  t 


1 1-' 


280 


QUKSTIONS   OV  TIIIO    DAV. 


il   • 


ill 


1 


li'm 


\)\ 


m 


n 


«il 


-V' 


i 


1 .,. 


ouco  ou  the  groat  advantj'gos  wliieli  any  Eui'0|)o;in  govorninent 
might  gain  over  its  rivals  by  aii  alliaiicu  with  the  Jows. 

"It  is  evident,"  lio  says,  "tliiit.  tlio  jxilioy  whicli  I  ])roposed  to  tho 
'i'urkisli  crovcniiiKiiit  [i.e.  tlic  rt'stonition  of  ralostiiicj  niiti:iit,  1)0  adopted 
witii  e(iual  atlvaiita^'e  by  Kiij^Maiid  or  any  other  Kuropean  Power.  'I'lie 
nation  tliat  espoused  tlie  cause  of  tho  Jews  and  tiieir  restoration  to 
Palesliut^  would  be  able,  to  rely  on  their  sujiport  in  iinaneial  operations 
ou  the  largest  scale,  ui^oii  the  powerful  inlluence  which  they  wield  in  the 
press  of  many  countries,  and  upon  their  i)olitit'al  co-operation  in  those 
countries,  which  would  of  lu^cessity  tiMid  to  paralyse  the  diplomatic  and 
even  hostile  action  of  Powers  anta^oiiistii!  to  tho  one  with  which  they 
were  allied.  Owini;'  to  the  iinaneial,  political,  and  connnercial  importance 
to  which  the  .lews  liave  now  attained,  there  is  probably  no  one  Power 
in  Europe  that  would  prove  so  valuable  an  ally  to  a  nation  likely  to  bo 
engaged  in  a  European  war,  as  this  wealthy,  powerful,  and  cosmopolitan 
race."  i 

Perhaps  the  writer  of  tliese  words  hardly  realised  the  state 
of  things  whieh  they  present  to  our  minds.  We  see  the 
governments  of  Etirope  Lidding  against  eaeh  other  for  tlie 
favour  and  sup[)ort  of  an  anti-national  money  power,  which 
would  itself  be  morally  unfettered  by  any  allegiance,  would  be 
ever  ready  to  betray  and  secretly  paralyse  for  its  own  objects 
the  governments  under  the  protection  of  which  its  nunubers 
were  living,  and  of  course  ^vould  be  always  gaining  strength 
and  predominance  at  the  expense  of  a  divided  and  subservient 
world.  The  allusion  to  tlie  influence  Avielded  by  the  Jews  in 
the  European  press  has  a  particularly  sinister  sound.  In  the 
social  as  in  the  physical  s})here  new  diseases  are  continually 
making  their  appearance.  One  of  the  new  social  diseases  of 
the  present  day,  and  certaiidy  not  the  least  deadly,  is  the 
perversion  of  public  opinion  in  the  interest  of  private  or 
sectional  obje(!ts,  by  tlie  clandestine  manipulation  of  the 
press. 

Such  a  relation  as  that  in  which  Judaism  has  placed  itself  to 
the  people  of  each  country,  forming  everywhere  a  nation  within 
the  nation,  cherishing  the  pride  of  a  Chosen  People,  regarding 

1  The  Land  of  GUead,  p.  503.     By  Laurence  Oliphant. 


TlIK   JEWISH   QUESTION. 


281 


thoso  among  whom  it  dwoltas  Gcntilos  and  nnoloan,  shrinkin},' 
Jrom  socnal  inUtroourso  with  th(!in,  (engrossing  thuir  wraith  by 
linancial  skill,  but  not  adding  to  it  by  labour,  plying  at  the 
samo  timo  a  trad(!  wiiioli,  howov(5r  legitimates,  is  always 
unpopular  and  nuikes  many  victims,  could  not  possibly  Tail  to 
load,  as  it  has  led,  to  mutual  hatred  and  the  troubles  wh'u-h 
ensue.  Certain  as  may  be  the  gradual  prevalence  of  good  ov(u- 
evil,  it  is  a  futile  optimism  which  denies  tiiat  then;  have  been 
calamities  in  history.  One  of  them  has  been  tin;  dispersion  of 
the  Jews.  As  was  said  before,  it  is  inercidible  that  all  the 
nations  should  have  mistakmi  a  power  of  good  for  a  ))ow(u-  of 
evil,  or  have  been  unanimous  in  ingratitude  to  a  powcu-  of 
good.  None  of  tliem  want  to  hurt  the  Jim  or  to  interf(u-e 
with  his  religi(ms  belief;  what  they  all  want  is  tliat  if  possible 
he  should  go  to  his  own  land.  As  it  is.  Western  Europe  and 
the  western  h(!misi)here  are  threatened  with  a  fresh  invasion 
on  the  largest  scale  by  the  departure;  of  Jews  from  Itussia. 
American  i)olitics  are  already  beginning  to  feel  the  influence. 
A  party,  to  catch  the  Jewish  vote,  ])uts  into  its  platform  a 
denunciation  of  liiissia,  the  best  friend  of  the  Amcu-iean 
liepublic;  in  its  day  of  trial.  Jews  are  becoming  strong  in  the 
r>ritish  House  of  Commons  and  one  of  them  the  other  day 
appealed  to  his  compatriots  to  combine  their  forces  against 
the  political  party  which  had  been  opposed  to  Jewish 
interests. 

That  the  Jew  should  be  de-rabbinised  and  de-nationalised, 
in  other  words  that  he  should  renounce  the  Talmud,  the  tribal 
parts  of  the  Mosaic  law,  and  circumcision,  is  the  remedy  pro- 
posed by  M.  Leroy-Iieaulieu,  a  writer  by  no  means  unfavour- 
able to  Israel.  There  seems  to  be  no  other  way  of  putting  an 
end  to  a  conflict  which  is  gradually  enveloping  all  nations. 
This  being  done,  whatever  gifts  and  graces  may  belong  to  the 
race  of  Moses,  David,  and  Isaiah,  of  tlui  writers  of  the  Book 
of  Job  and  of  the  Psalms,  of  Judas  Maccabeeus  and  Ilillel,  will 
have  free  course  and  be  glorified.  If  Israel  has  any  message 
for  humanity,  as  he  seems  to  think,  it  will  be  heard.  Jewish 
merit  will  no  longer  be  viewed  with  jealousy  and  distrust  as 


'1;  > 

1  !■ 


282 


QUESTIONS  OF  THE   DAY. 


:  l,M 


!'"■    :l 


having  a  sinister  confederation 'at  its  Imck;  and  no  man  need 
fear  in  the  present  age  tliat  in  any  higlily  civilised  community 
he  will  suffer  persecution  or  disparagement  of  any  sort  on 
account  of  his  religion.  But  the  present  relation  is  untenable. 
The  Jew  will  have  either  to  return  to  Jerusalem  or  to  forget 
it,  give  his  heart  to  the  laud  of  his  bi;th  and  mingle  with 
humanity. 


i\.\ 


r;  i 


I] 


-J     M  /     1  !  it 


no  man  need 
d  community 
any  sort  on 
is  untenable. 
1  or  to  forget 
mingle  with 


It 


;   t 


If'' 


THE  IRISH  QUESTION. 


iill. 


! 

ill 


1  = 


it 


) 

m 


ii 


l» 

I 

1 

1  , 

;i  1 

, 

'  ■    n 

-  Ill 

i' 

1:          ■•' 

'1  II 

3' 

J^  »■ 

ii*''  ' 

'(Pl 
f  ir 

\l^l 

III 


1    I 

11 


THE   IRISH   QUESTION. 

It  is  proposed  tlmt  CeWw.  and  Catliolio  Ireland  shall  be  made 
a  separate  nation  witli  a  Parliament  of  its  own,  and  that  into 
this  nation  Saxon  and  Protestant  Ulster  shall,  against  its  will 
and  in  spite  of  its  i)assionate  appeals  to  the  hononr  of  the 
British  people,  be  forced.  A  separate  Irisli  nation  is  what 
Home  Rule  means.  Devolution  of  the  business  of  an  over- 
loaded ParlianK'ut  on  a  local  Assembly,  though  sometimes  so- 
phistically  confounded  with  lEome  llulo,  is  a  very  different 
thing.  To  devolution  there  is  no  objection,  unless  Parliament 
can,  by  giving  less  of  its  tim.u  to  faction  fighting,  find  more 
time  to  do  the  business,  and  if  in  a  country  so  united  in  inter- 
est subjects  purely  local  and  at  the  same  time  important  enough 
to  make  work  for  a  legislature  can  be  found. 

Why  are  the  Celtic  <ind  Catholic  districts  of  Ireland,  any 
more  than  the  Celtic  and  Methodist  districts  of  Wales,  to  be 
severed  from  the  United  Kingdom  and  invested  with  a  separate 
nationality?  One  reason,  or  rather  one  motive,  operating  in  a 
certain  quarter  presents  itself  to  view  as  often  as  from  the 
gallery  of  the  House  of  Commons  we  look  down  upon  the  group 
of  Irish  members,  and  mark  what  its  demeanour  indicates,  or 
read  the  account  of  the  disputes  between  its  two  sections  over 
the  party  fund.  If  the  Home  Eulc  Bill  were  passed,  these 
i.ien  would,  besides  commanding  a  legislature  and  a  govern- 
ment, enter  into  the  control  of  a  great  revenue  and  into  the 
possession  of  a  patronage  which,  as  at  the  outset  everything 
would  have  to  be  given  away  at  once,  would  be  dazzling.  A 
fanatical  hatred,  which  breaks  forth  whenever  it  is  not 
restrained  by  policy,  would  be  gratified  at  the  same  time. 

But  another  separatist  interest  besides  that  of  the  squadron 

285 


m 


f  ;■ 


.il  'I 


M 


28A 


QUKSTIONS   (»K  TMK    DAY. 


1} 


Tj,!T 


M 


U 


of  Irisli  politicians  is  at,  work  for  tlu'  (lisiiK'Hihcrmont  of  thn 
Unikul  Kiiij,'(lom.  On  tlio  other  sidn  of  St,  (U'orKo's  Chaiiinil 
stands  tiie  Catholic  Priesthood,  ready  as  soon  as  Ireland  is  cast 
adrift  hy  (}reat  iJritain  to«rene\v  its  reign.  It  stands  with  the 
Encyclical  and  Syllabus  in  its  hand,  to  he  executed  wherever 
and  whenever  it  has  the  power. 

Th(!se  two  int(!rests  connuand  hy  or<;aiiisations,  political  or 
sacerdotal,  before  whitih  the  peasant  (iowers,  the  peojjle  of  the 
Celtic  and  Catholic  districts.  TJie  voice  which  we  hear,  though 
it  is  called  that  of  Ireland,  is  theirs. 

There  has  never  been  an  Irish  nation.  The  savage  tribes, 
constantly  waging  intortril):il  war,  in  wiiose  occupation  Strong- 
bow  found  the  island,  werci  not  ii  nation.  The  Celtic  tnl)es 
and  tlie  Anglo-Saxon  Pale,  waging  internecine  war  with  each 
other,  while  the  wars  among  the  tribes  themselves  never 
ceased,  were  not  a  nation.  The  English  or  Scotch  and  Protes- 
tant colonies  in  Leinster  and  Ulster,  encircled  by  the  Celtic 
and  Catholic  tribes,  with  which  internecine  war  was  still  car- 
ried on,  were  not  a  nation.  The  dominant  race  of  Grattan's 
Parliament,  and  the  subject  race  wliich  was  excluded  from  that 
Parliament  and  treated  by  it  as  a  race  of  political  and  sociiil 
serfs,  were  not  a  nation.  TyrconneTs  ('eltic  and  Catholic 
Parliament,  with  its  sweeping  proscription  of  all  the  Saxons 
and  Protestants,  was  not  even  so  much  as  Grattan's  Parliament 
the  Parliament  of  a  nation.  Nor  would  tlie  I'arnellite  Parlia- 
ment be  the  Parliament  of  a  nation  when  it  proceeded,  as 
assuredly  and  almost  avowedly  it  would,  to  legislate  in  the 
same  spirit. 

There  are  not  within  the  range  of  the  United  Kingdom  any 
other  two  districts  between  which  so  sfion.c^  an  antagonism 
prevails  as  prevails  between  Celtic  Imland  and  Ulster,  of 
which  it  is  proi)osed  by  Liberals  and  phihj.sopheib  to  compound 
Avith  tlie  bayonet  tliis  Irish  nation. 

The  populations  of  the  two  islands  are  now  intermixed. 
There  is  a  large  Saxon  element  in  Ireland;  there  are  masses 
of  Celtic  Irish  in  Great  IJritain,  as  the  P)ritish  artisan  knows 
'o  his  Cvit,     The  language  of  both  islands  is  the  samej  Erse, 


Till';    IHISII    (^UKSTION. 


9S7 


' 


.at  least,  is  on  tlu^  verff.'  of  cxtinntion,  and  Irdiuul  has  no 
l.trratun.  Imt  tl...  Kn,^^Iish.  Slu.  Iuls  n..  political  iuHtitutions 
l.iit  thos..  wl.idi  sl.u  Iiu8  (l(«riv(.,l  from  Knglan.l.  Sho  has  no 
iiistory  of  lu'v  own  excei)t  one  of  sava^o  wars  of  race  and 
ndi-ion.  Th.-  Colts  have  no  native  dynasty  or  centre  of 
political  unity  of  any  kind,  unless  it  bo  their  religious  subjec- 
tion to  a  f'oreii,'!!  jiriest. 

The  Channel  has  been  a  groat  ohstaelo  to  union,  but  it  is 
now  bridged  by  steiiin.  Tf  an  arm  of  the  sea  were  always  to 
bo  fatal  to  union,  Corsica  couhl  not  ho  united  to  France 
Sardinia  and  Si.uly  to  Italy,  IMi.jon'a  and  Minorca  to  Sp.-.in' 
the  Ionian  Islands  to  Greece,  Prince  Edward  Island  to  ('nniuhi' 
The  central  d.'sert  of  America  is  a  good  deal  broader  tlian  the 
Irish  Channel,  yet  it  does  not  privent  the  union  of  Pacific  with 
Atlantic  States,  r.diticians  who  projioso  to  unite  the  ends  of 
the  earth  un.ler  an  Imperial  Federation  can  hardly  say  that 
nature  forbids  the  union  of  tlie  two  llritish  islands  under  one 
government.  The  population  of  the  two  islands  is  not  so 
large  as  that  of  France,  nothing  like  so  large  as  that  of  Ger- 
many, Russia,  or  the  United  States.  Kot  Kent  itself  is  more 
thoroughly  incorporated  with  the  United  Kingdom  than  the 
North  of  Ireland.  Not  Kent  itself  hi  being  torn  from  the 
United  Kingdom  would  feed  a  greater  pang. 

The  map  shows  at  once  that  the  (h-stinies  of  the  two  islands 
are  linked  together.  The  two  will,  in  all  probability,  either 
be  united  or  be  enemies,  and  if  they  are  enemies,  woe  to  the 
weaker.  The  smaller  island  is  cut  off  from  the  continent  by 
the  larger  and  thus  phu^ed  under  its  power.  Economically,  the 
two  are  complements  of  each  other.  Great  Britain  having  the 
wheat  land  and  the  coal,  while  Ireland  has  the  grass.  When 
people  wail  over  the  Irish  exodus,  they  forget  the  numbers  of 
Irish  who  find  bread  in  the  manufa(!turing  cities  of  Great 
Britain,  and  who,  while  Ireland  remains  in  the  United  King- 
dom, are  as  much  in  their  own  country  as  if  they  were  at  Cork. 
Territorial  rapacity  is  folly  as  well  as  wickedness.  Let 
every  nation  bo  content  with  that  which  by  nature  it  has.  But 
a  nation  has  a  right  to  maintain  its  natural  boundaries  against 


If*' 


l*i 


If  '  ; 


^^J^KijyPHWJiWPilWPil 


M 


-/•     ' 


2H8 


(iUESTlONS   OF   THE    DAY. 


i 


1  If 'f 


ii 


ili;-  '(' 


!,        ,1 


i  !i  '  ii 


■H 


secession  as  well  as  against  invasioti.  This,  Americans,  at  all 
events,  cannot  deny.  Tlic  docti'ine  of  re'nellion  as  a  nniversal 
riglit  and  an  object  qI"  ibiliniitcd  sympathy  conld  not  survive 
the  lirst  sliot  of  the  War  of  Secession.  By  the  loss  of  the 
sister  island,  Great  Britain  would  ])e  reduced  to  a  second-rate 
power;  amidst  a  circh^  of  military  nations  she  would  live  in 
])eril.  ll(M-  citizens,  at  least,  may  be  pardoned  for  thinking 
tliat  lier  fall  would  be  a  misfortune  not  to  herself  alone,  that 
Jier  inHu(Mi(H^  would  be  missed  by  the  nations  of  her  hemi- 
s])here,  and  thai,  10urop<\in  progress  would  lose  its  moderating 
po\v(>i.  Italian  Liberals  are  aniong  tlie  best  of  Liberals. 
How  much  sympathy  have  they  shown  with  Irish  secession? 

Irish  history  is  a  piteous  tale.  But  there  is  no  sailing  up 
the  stream  of  time.  We  must  deal  with  things  as  they  are 
now,  not  immolate  present  policy  to  the  evil  memories  of  the 
past.  Detestable  is  Wio.  art  of  tlie  d(Mna,gogue  who  rakes  up 
those  memories  to  obtain  for  his  schemes  from  passion  tlie 
support  which  r(>ason  and  patriotism  would  not  give.  No 
living  man  is  nov/  responsible  for  anything  done  seven  cen- 
turies or  a  single  century  ago.  He  who  persists  in  accusing 
England  of.  cruelty  to  Ireland,  wlicn  the  last  three  or  four 
generations  of  Englishmen  have  been  as  much  as  possible  the 
reverse  of  cruel,  only  givi>s  way  to  his  evil  tem[)er  and  darkens 
counsel. 

Race  character  may  not  be  congenital  or  indelible.  But  there 
is  no  disputing  that  its  influence  has  been  strong,  and  in  the 
case  of  the  Celt  is  marked.  INIommsen,  in  a  well-known  pass- 
age, ends  a  review  of  Celtic  character,  with  its  graces  and 
weaknesses,  by  pronouncing  the  race  politically  useless.  He 
holds,  and  declares  his  judgment  in  language  too  frank  to 
be  graciously  repeated,  that  the  Celt  politically  is  only 
material  to  be  workml  up  by  stronger  races. ^  Mommsen  has 
Bismarckian  iron  in  his  blood  as  he  lias  the  tramp  of  the 
German  armies  in  his  style.  But  Bishop  Lightfoot  has  no 
Bismarckian  iron  in  his  blood.     He  says: 

1  See  his  History  of  Home,  Bk.  V.,  ch.  vii. 


THE   IRISH   QL'ESTION. 


280 


"Tho  main  foatnros  of  the  Gaulish  character  are  traced  with  great 
distinctness  by  the  Roman  writers.  (Quickness  of  appreliension,  prompti- 
tude In  action,  great  impressibility,  an  eager  craving  after  knowledge,— 
this  is  the  brighter  aspect  of  the  Celtic  ciiaracter.  Inconstant  and  quar- 
relsome, treacherous  in  their  dealings,  incapable  of  sustained  effort,  easily 
disheartened  by  failure,  — such  they  appear  when  view(!d  on  their  darker 
side.  It  is  curious  to  note  the  same  eagcir,  inquisitive  temper  revealing 
itself  under  widely  different  circumstances,  at  opposite  linuts  both  of  time 
and  space,  in  their  early  barbarism  in  the  West  and  tlieir  worn-out  civi- 
lisation in  the  East.  'J'lie  great  Roman  captain  relates  how  the  Gauls 
would  gather  about  any  merchant  or  traveller  who  came  in  their  way, 
detaining  him  even  against  his  will,  and  eagerly  pressing  him  for  news'. 
A  late  Greek  rhetorician  commends  tiie  (lalatians  as  more  keen  and 
(luicker  of  apprehension  than  tiie  genuine  Greeks,  adding  tliat  the  moment 
they  catch  sight  of  a  philosopher  they  cling  to  the  skirts  of  his  cloak  as 
the  steel  does  to  tho  magnet.  It  is  chiefly,  however,  on  the  more  forbid- 
ding features  oi  their  character  that  contemporary  writers  dwell.  Fickle- 
ness is  the  term  used  to  express  tlieir  temi)eranient.  'I'lus  instability  of 
character  was  the  great  difhculty  against  which  Ciesar  had  to  contend  in 
his  dealings  with  the  (Jaul.  He  complains  that  they  all,  with  scarcely  an 
exception,  are  impelled  by  the  desire  of  change.  Nor  did  they  show 
more  constancy  in  the  discharge  of  their  religious  than  of  their  Hocial  obli- 
gations. The  hearty  zeal  with  which  they  embraced  the  Apostle's  teach- 
ing, followed  by  their  rapid  apostasy,  is  oidy  an  instance  out  of  many  of 
the  reckless  facility  with  winch  they  adopted  iuid  discarded  one  religious 
system  after  another.  To  St.  Paul,  who  had  had  much  bitter  experrence 
of  hollow  profession  and  fickle  purposes,  this  extraordinary  levity  was 
yet  a  matter  of  unfeigned  surprise,  '  I  marvel,'  lie  says,  '  that  ye  are 
clianging  so  quickly.'  He  looked  upon  it  as  some  strange  fascination. 
'Ve  senseless  Gauls,  who  did  bewitch  you?'  The  language  in  which 
Roman  writers  speak  of  the  martial  courage  of  the  Gauls,  impetuous  at 
tlie  first  onset,  but  rapidly  melting  in  the  heat  of  the  fray,  av'cU  describes 
tiie  short-lived  prowess  of  these  converts  in  the  warfare  of  the  Christian 
Church. 

"  Equally  important  in  its  relation  to  St.  Paul's  epistle  is  the  type  of 
religious  worship  which  seems  to  have  pervaded  the  Celtic  nations.  Tho 
Gauls  are  described  as  a  superstitious  people,  given  over  to  ritual  observ- 
ances. Nor  is  it,  perhaps,  a  mere  accident  that  the  only  Asiatic  Gaul  of 
whom  history  affords  more  than  a  passing  glimpse,  Deiotarus,  the  client 
of  Cicero,  in  his  extravagant  devotion  to  augury,  bears  out  the  character 
ascribed  to  the  parent  race."  i 


is  ■   i, 


The  Epistles  of  St.  Paul :  Epistle  to  the  Galatians,  Introduction,  I. 


:.n 


290 


QUESTIONS   OF   THE   DAY. 


U 


mj- 


^. 


U 


B''^      > 


:.ii 


'I  I'' 


In  France  the  Celt  underwent  Roman  and  afterwards  Frank- 
^sh  training.  What  lie  woukl  have  been  without  that  training 
Brittany,  amiable  but  thriftless,  slatternly,  priest-ridden,  saint- 
worshipping,  legendaiy,  is  left  to  tell.  We  know  how  even 
the  Celt  who  liad  undergone  Roman  and  Frankisli  training 
behaved  in  the  French  lievolution.  Nor  is  it  likely  that  the 
strongest  and  most  gifted  part  of  the  race  would  be  that  which 
in  the  primeval  struggle  for  existence  was  thrust  away  to  the 
remotest  island  of  the  West. 

The  mountains,  bogs,  rivers,  and  forests,  for  forests  there 
then  were,  of  Ireland,  like  the  isolated  glens  of  the  Scotch 
Highlands,  helped  to  perpetuate  the  tribal  divisions  with  their 
clannish  ways  and  sentiments,  the  mould  in  which  the  political 
character  of  the  Irish  Avas  formed;  for  tlio  Celtic  Irishman  is 
still  not  a  constitutionalist  but  a   clansman,  with  clannish 
attachments,  clannish  feuds,  and   clannish    love  of  political 
spoils.     Between  the  general  influence  of  race  and  that  of  the 
local  circumstances  of  the  Irish  Celt,  a  character  was  formed 
which  is  as  distinct  as  that  of  any  individual  man,  and  which 
it  Avould  be  as  absurd  to  overlook  or  to  pretend  not  to  see  in 
dealing  with  the  race  as  it  would  be  to  overlook  or  to  pretend 
not  to  see  personal  character  in  dealing  with  a  man      That 
the  Irish  Celt  has  gifts,  that  under  a  good  master  or  commander 
he  makes  a  good  worker  or  soldier,  nobody  who  knows  him 
will  deny.     Nobody   who   knows   him   will   deny  his  social 
charm.     Nobody  who  knows  how  Irish  emigrants  have  been 
assisted  by  their  kinsmen  in  America  will  deny  that  the  Irish- 
man has  strong  domestic  affections  and  a  generous  heart.     But 
nobody  who  is  not  angling  for  his  vote  will  affirm  that  in 
Cork,  in  Liverpool  or  Glasgow,  in  New  York,  in  the  Aus- 
tralian colonies,  or  anywhere,  he  has  as  yet  become  a  good 
citizen  under  free  institutions.     Nobody  Avho  is  not  angling 
for  his  vote  Avill  affirm  that  he  is  by  nature  law-abiding,  or 
that  when  his  passions  are  excited,  whether  his  victims  be  his 
agrarian  enemies  in  Ireland  or  the  hapless  neg"oes  in  New 
York,  he  is  not  capable  of  dreadful  orinu^s.     The  Anglo-Saxon, 
when  he  takes  to  rioting,  may  be  brutal;  in  the  Lord  George 


THE  IRISH  QUESTION. 


291 


Gordon  riots  he  was  brutal  enough;  but  he  does  not  card  or 
hough,  nor  does  he  cut  off  the  udders  of  kine.  The  Phoenix 
Park  murders  were  a  Celtic,  not  an  Anglo-Saxon,  deed. 

Lists  are  given  of  Irish  statesmen  and  commanders,  such  as 

Canning,  Castlereagh,  Clare,  Wellington,  Wellesley,  Grattan, 

Plunket,  the  two  Lawrences,  Napier,  Koberts,  and  Wolseley. 

These  are  Saxon,  not  Celtic  L-ish.     Even  Parnell  and  Butt 

before  him  were  of  that  intrusive  race  which  it  was  the  object 

of  their  movement  to  expel.     Of  Parnell,  Mr.  T.  P.  O'Connor 

tells  us  that  his  manner  Avas  Saxon  in  its  reserve  and  liis  speech 

was  still  more  Saxon  in  its  rigidity.     Parnell  probably  owed 

largely  to  the  coolness  and  tenacity  of  his  Saxon  cliaracter  his 

despotic  ascendancy  over  liis  train.     There  has  been  no  Celtic 

leader  of  eminence  except  O'Connell,  who  was  an  agitator,  not 

a  statesman.     Burke  had  in  him  a  Celtic  strain  wliich  showed 

itself  in  his  more  declamatory  and  passionate  moods.     That 

the  Celt  is  politically  weak,  ten  centuries  of  wail  without 

achievement  are  surely  proof  enough. 

In  the  North  of  Ireland  are  prosperous  industry  and  com- 
merce, with  Protestant  liberty  of  conscience.  In  the  South  are 
unthrift  and  poverty  under  the  dominion  of  tlie  priest.  The 
political  institutions  and  the  relation  to  Great  Britain  are 
exactly  the  same  in  both  cases;  it  seems  to  follow  that  the 
character  of  the  people  is  not. 

When,  beckoned  by  tribal  revenge,  tlie  Norman  Strongbow 
landed  in  Ireland,  lie  found  there  no  germ  of  national  unity 
beyond  the  transient  ascendancy  of  powerful  chiefs,  nor,  except 
in  the  little  Danish  settlements  of  the  seaboard,  any  solid 
civilisation,  though  there  was  an  aptitude  for  decorative  art, 
of  wliich  the  monuments  are  elaborately  carved  crosses,  illu- 
minated books,  the  golden  ornaments  disidayed  in  the  Celtic 
Museum  at  Dublin.  Everywhere  were  tribal  divisions  and 
intertribal  wars.  The  brief  reign  of  the  powerful  chief,  or 
king,  as  he  is  styled,  Brian  Boru,  had  served  only  to  show  by 
its  result  the  prevalence  of  the  centrifugal  force.  Tlie  Brehon 
Law  was  common  to  the  tribes,  but  it  was  a  mere  repertory  of 
tribal   customs,   real   or   imaginary;    tlie   jurisdiction   of   its 


i 

f     ' 

\  y 

Ifi^ 


I 


1" 


7.  ^      'f 


^^p 


292 


QUKSTIONS  OF  THE   DAY. 


i;  i 


n  ili'iif! 


'! 

? 

i' 

iliH; 

•  1 ': 

JMni 

1 

M  f  'f 

t 

1 

i 

1  .'i, 

r 

p 

i  >:  1 

^'*'l!  ■ 

■A 
•  i 

courts  went  not  beyond  the  assessment  of  damages  or  the 
imposition  of  linos;  nor  was  tliere  any  autliority  to  enforce  it, 
saving  liabit  and  a  pre(!ari()us  opinion.  There  was  liardly  any 
agricultnre;  cattle  were  tlie  only  wealth.  There  were  no 
cities;  the  Irish  indeed  have  not  founded  cities  either  in  tlieir 
own  land  or  in  America,  though  as  labourers  tluy  have  helped 
to  build  many.  The  Church,  a  surviving  remnant,  like  that 
in  Wales,  of  tlie  Church  of  the  British  Celts  before  Aiigustiiui, 
ruder  than  that  of  Kome,  but  nut  more;  Trotestant,  had  for  a 
moment  marvcdlously  shone  in  missionary  enterprise,  and,  if 
Irish  traditions  are  true,  in  pursuit  of  learning.  Jkit  Avithout 
cities  it  could  not  be  opulent  or  imposing.  It  seems  to  have 
suffered  severidy  at  the  hands  of  the  Danes.  It  was  presently 
(u-ushed  under  the  hoofs  of  tribal  barbarism  and  rai)acity,  and 
stretched  out  its  hands  to  Canterbury  for  aid.  Its  chief 
monuments  are  those  romantic  Kound  Towers,  its  refuges 
probably  in  time  of  raids.  The  chief,  whose  revenge  had 
called  in  Strongbow,  after  the  battle  plucked  from  a  heaj)  of 
heads  that  of  his  enemy,  and  nuingled  it  with  his  teeth. 

Alarmed  at  the  progress  of  his  vassal,  Henry  II.  produced 
and  i)roceeded  to  execute  a  Papal  decree,  awarding  him  the 
lordship  of  Ireland  under  the  I'opo  if  he  would  reform  the 
manners  of  the  people,  annex  their  Church  to  the  dominion  of 
Kome,  and  make  the  island  pay  Peter's  pence.  This  warrant, 
a  laughing-stock  now,  Avas  deenunl  valid  in  those  days.  The 
Anglo-Nonuan  conquest  of  Ireland,  falsely  called  the  English 
conquest,  was  thus  a  supplement  to  the  (jonquest  of  England 
by  a  Norman  who  bore  the  signet  ring  of  Pome  and  came  to 
subdue  the  national  Church  of  England  for  the  Papacy  as  well 
•as  the  kingdom  for  himself.  The  Synod  of  Cashel  at  whicli 
the  Irish  Church  became  the  vassal  of  Rome  was  the  counter- 
part of  the  Synod  of  Winchester  at  which  the  English  Church 
bowed  her  neck  to  the  same  yoke.  Henry  received  the  sub- 
mission of  the  chiefs,  and  though  at  his  departure  they 
returned  to  their  wild  life,  they  had  become  his  liegemen, 
and  he  and  his  successors  might  thenceforth  deem  themselves 
lawful  lords  of  Ireland. 


'M 


THE    IRISH   QUESTION. 


208 


Unhappily,  noithor  Henry  II.  nor  liis  successors  for  three 
centuri(!S  nuulo  good  tlicir  h)r(lsliii).  'IMu;  Norman  conquest  of 
ICnglund  by  a  gn^at  army,  witli  the  king  at  its  head,  was  com- 
pU',t(!;  it  gav(!  birth  over  the  wliohi  country  to  a  miw  order  of 
tilings  and  to  an  aristocracy  which  presently  beciame  national, 
and  at  length  the  champion  and  trustee  of  national  liberty. 
Jiut  in  Ireland  once  only  after  Henry  II.,  in  the  jxsrson  of 
Itichard  II.,  did  the  king  Avith  the  power  of  the  kingdom  for  a 
moment  apjx^ar  on  the  scene.  The  centre  of  the  lOnglish 
l)Ower  was  distant,  the  na.tural  rout(}  lay  through  Welsh  moun- 
tains, with  a  wild  population  long  unsubdued  or  half  subdued, 
while  the  arm  of  thci  sea  was  broad  in  the  days  before  steam. 
A  chimericiil  ambition  divertiid  the  power  of  the  monarchy 
from  its  proper  work  of  consolidating  the  island  realm  to  what 
seemed  brighter  and  richer  fields  of  enterprise  in  France. 
Ireland  was  left  to  })rivate  adventure,  which,  from  its  weak- 
ness, its  want  of  unity,  tli(!  difficulties  of  a  country  ill  suited 
for  the  action  of  men-at-arms  or  archers,  and  the  mobility  of 
pastoral  tribes,  totally  failed.  The;  outconm  was  an  Anglo- 
Norman  Pale,  with  Dublin  and  the  grave  of  Strongbow  for  its 
centre,  carrying  on  incessant  war  with  the  tSepts,  which  con- 
tinued to  war  with  each  otlier  and  to  lift  each  other's  cattle  at 
the  same  time.  Some  of  the  Anglo-Nornum  Barons,  finding 
tribal  even  more  lawd(;ss  than  feudal  anarchy,  doffed  the 
hauberk,  donned  the  saffron  nuintle  of  Irish  tribalism,  and 
became  chiefs  of  bastard  Septs.  The  Crown,  by  enactments 
which  sound  like  an  inhuman  perpetuation  of  the  estrange- 
ment between  the  races,  strove  to  prevent  this  lapse  of  the 
Ihiglishry  into  barbarism,  but  strove  in  vain. 

Without  a  king,  the  feudal  system,  introduced  into  Ireland, 
lacked  its  regulative  and  controlling  powder.  The  gi'antees  of 
great  fiefs  were?  cou!its  ])alatiii(!  Avithout  a  suzerain.  When, 
by  the  degeneration  of  the  Anglo-Norman  lords,  the  chief  was 
blended  with  the  feudal  baron,  tne  result  seems  to  have  been  a 
mixture  of  the  evils  of  both  systems.  The  earl-chieftain 
became  the  leader  of  a  band  of  lawless  and  insolent  mercenaries 
or  gallowglass,  who  were  quartered,  under  the  name  of  Coyne 


t 


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if 


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/      ' 


II 


294 


QUESTIONS  OF  THE   DAY. 


and  Livery  and  other  titles  of  extortion,  on  the  hapless  people. 
The  historic  thread,  if  slight,  is  not  invisible  which  connects 
these  Bosses  with  the  Bosses  of  Xew  York. 

The  very  presence  of  royalty,  as  a  power  superior  to  all  these 
anarchies,  did  good.  The  sojourn  of  Lionel,  Duke  of  Clarence, 
son  of  Edward  III.,  produced  a  momentary  reformation. 
"Because,"  says  Sir  John  Davis,  "the  people  of  this  land, 
both  Englisli  and  Irish,  out  of  a  natural  pride,  did  ever  love 
and  desire  to  be  governed  by  great  persons."  If  British  mon- 
archs  could  only  have  seen  this  and  done  their  duty ! 

Bad  was  only  made  worse  when  Ireland  was  invaded  by 
Edward  Bruce,  brother  of  the  Norman  adventurer  who  had 
won  for  himself  the  throne  of  Scotland.  The  campaign  was 
like  those  of  the  Bruces  and  Wallace  in  their  own  lands,  one 
of  merciless  destruction.  The  death  blow  was  dealt  to  the 
ambition  of  Edward  Bruce  by  the  generalship  of  John  de 
Bermingham,  which  turned  the  wavering  scale  in  favour  of 
English  connection.  But  Bruce,  though  he  was  called  in  by 
the  Irish  chiefs,  seems  to  have  experienced  the  fickleness  of 
Irish  alliances.  The  Irish  Annals  of  Clonmaenoise  declare 
that  he  was  slain  "to  the  great  joy  and  comfort  of  the  whole 
kingdom  in  general,  for  there  was  not  a  better  deed,  that 
redounded  more  to  the  good  of  the  kingdom  since  the  creation 
of  the  world,  and  since  the  banishment  of  the  Fine  Fomores 
out  of  this  land,  done  in  Ireland,  than  the  killing  of  Edward 
Bruce ;  for  there  reigned  scarcity  of  victuals,  breach  of  prom- 
ises, ill  performance  of  covenants,  and  the  loss  of  men  and 
women,  throughout  the  whole  Kingdom,  for  the  space  of  three 
years  and  a  half  that  he  bore  sway;  insomuch  that  men  did 
commonly  eat  one  another,  for  want  of  sustenance,  during 
his  time."  ^ 

Nothing  is  more  cruel  or  more  hideous  than  a  protracted 
struggle  of  the  half-civilised  with  the  savage.  A  native  was 
to  the  Englishman  as  a  wolf,  and  the  native  skene  spared  no 
Englishman.     Nothing  could  prosper.     In  the  little  English 

1  Quoted  by  A.  G.  Ricliey,  LL.D.,  in  his  f^hort  History  of  the  Irish 
People,  pp.  U)G.  1U7.     Edited  by  li.  U.  Kane,  LL.D. 


m 


y  of  the  Irish 


THE   IRISH  QUESTION. 


295 


sea-board  towns,  petty  commonwealths  in  themselves,  there  was 
order  and  some  commerce.     Gal  way  preserves  in  her  architect- 
ure and  her  legends  the  picturesnue  and  romantic  traces  of 
her  trade  with  Spain.     Elsewhere  was  nothing  but  turbulence 
and  havoc.     A  Parliament  there  was  in  the  I'ale,  but  it  was  a 
scarecrow.     Judges  there  were  in  the  Pale,  after  the  Englisli 
model,  but  they  had  little  power  to  uphold  law.     The  CImrch 
was  feeble,  coarse,  and  almost  worthless  as  an  instrument  of 
civilisation.     What  there  was  of  it  was  rather  monastic  than 
parochial,  the  monastery  being  a  fortalice,  and,  in  a  general 
reign  of  crime,  probably  drawing  endowment  from  remorse. 
Only  the  Friars  were  zealous  in  preaching.     The  Church  seems 
not  to  have  acted  as  a  united  body,  to  have  held  no  synods,  and 
to  have  been  intersected,  like  the  people,  by  the  race  line. 
Ecclesiastics  fought  like  laymen,  and  appear  to  have  been  as 
little  revered.     A  chieftain  pleaded  as  an  excuse  for  burning 
down  a  cathedral  that  ho  had  thought  the  Archbishop  was  in 
it.     In  the  Celtic  districts  the  calendar  of  ecclesiastical  crimes, 
or  crimes  against  ecclesiastics,  given  by  the  Four   Masters 
between  1500  and  1535,  comprises  Barry  More,  killed  by  his 
cousin,  the  Archdeacon  of  Cloyne,  who  was  himself  hanged  by 
Thomas  Barry;  Donald  Kane,  Abbot  of  Macosquin,  hanged  by 
Donald  O'Kane,  who  was  himself  hanged;  John  Burke,  killed 
in  tlie  monastery  of  Jubberpatrick;  Donaghmoyne  Cliurch,  set 
on  fire  by  M'Mahon  during  mass;  Nicholas,  parson  of  Deven- 
ish,  wrongfully  driven  away  by  the  laity;  Hugh  Maguinness, 
Abbot  of  Newry,  killed  by  the  sons  of  Donald  ]\[aguinness; 
tlie  Prior  of  Gallen,  murdered  by  Turlough  Oge  Macloughlin; 
O'Quillan,  murdered,  and  the  Church  of  Dunboe  burned,  bv 
O'Kane.  1  ^ 

While  England  was  torn  and  her  government  paralysed  by 
the  Wars  of  the  Roses,  the  Pale  was  reduced  to  a  district 
comprising  parts  of  four  counties  and  defended  by  a  ditch. 
Had  there  been  among  the  Celts  any  national  unity  or  power 
of  organisation,  here  was  their  chance  of  winning  back  their 
lands.     But   they   were   fighting   among   themselves  just   as 

1  Rickey,  p.  284. 


i 


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■  i 


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W  \- 


296 


QUESTIONS  OF  THE  DAY. 


fiercely  as  they  fouglit  with  the  Pale.  As  Bichey  says, 
patriotism  did  not  exist;  there  was  no  sentiment  broader  than 
that  of  the  clan,  nov  was  the  rival  clan  less  an  object  of  enmity 
than  the  Englishry. 

Soon  the  chance  of  the  Celts  was  lost.     Out  of  the  wreck  of 
the  aristocracy  in  the  civil  war  rose  the  powerful  monarchy  of 
the  Tudors.     In  Ireland  coiMpiest  resumed  its  march.     Kenry 
VII.  l)roug]it  the  Irish  Parliament  under  the  control  of  tlie 
Privy  Council  by  Poyning's  Law.     Henry  VIII.  crowned  him- 
self King  of  Ireland,  instead  of  being  only  Lord  under  the 
Pope.      The    policy   first   tried   was   tliat   of  ruling   Ireland 
through   great   native   chiefs.      This    failing,   dominion   was 
advanced  by  arms.     Could  the  full  force  of  the  monarchy  have 
been  thrown  on  Ireland,  there  would  have  been  a  merciful  end 
of  the  struggle.     But  the  gn^ater  part  of  that  force  was  engaged 
upon  the  Continent,  first  by  the  vanity  of  Henry  VIIL,  or  tlie 
schemes  of  his  minister,  and  afterwards  by  the  dire  exigencies 
of  the  conflict  with  the  Catholic  powers.     Here,  as  elsewhere, 
the  unwise  parsimony  of  Elizabeth  starved  the  service.     In- 
stead of  systematic  subjugation,  there  were  hostings  or  mili- 
tary raids,  and  the  soldiers,  being  unpaid,  lived  by  rapine. 
The  conquest  was  very  slow,  and  forms  an  exceptionally  cruel 
page  even  in  the  cruel  history  of  the  conflict  between  the  half- 
civilised  and  the  savage.     As  the  Red  Indian  is  to  the  Ameri- 
can frontiersman,  so  was  the  Irishman  under  the  Tudors  to  the 
Englishman  in  Ireland.     The  gentle  Spenser,  in  speaking  of 
him,  forgets  the  language  of  humanity.     Spenser,  like  Raleigh, 
was  one  of  a  body  of  adventurers  Avho  took  part  in  the  conquest 
and   were    paid   by   sweeping    confiscations    of   native   land. 
Nothing  can  be  more  horrible  or  heartrending  than  the  pic- 
tures of  the  state  of  the  island  and  its  people,  drawn  by  the 
conquerors  themselves. 

That  the  Irish  at  this  time  were  uncivilised  is  clear. 
Cuellar,  a  Spaniard,  who  had  been  thrown  among  them,  says: 

"  The  habit  of  tliose  savages  is  to  live  like  bnites  in  the  mountains, 
which  are  very  rugged  in  the  part  of  Ireland  where  we  were  lost.  They 
dwell  in  thatched  cabins.     The  men  are  well  made,  with  good  features, 


THE   IRISH  CiUESTION. 


297 


iuid  as  active  as  deer.  They  eat  but  one  meal  and  that  late  at  nif^ht,  oat- 
cake and  butter  being  their  usual  food.  Tliey  drink  sour  milk  because 
tliey  have  notliin^  else,  for  they  use  no  water,  tliough  Uiey  have  the  best 
in  the  world.  At  feasts  it  is  their  custom  to  cat  half-cooked  meat  without 
bread  or  salt.  Tlieir  dress  matches  tliemselvcs  —  tight  breeclies  and 
short,  loose  jackets  of  very  coarse  texture  ;  over  all  they  wear  blankets, 
and  their  hair  conies  ovca*  their  eyes.  Tliey  are  great  walkers,  and  stand 
nmch  work,  and  by  continually  lighting  they  keep  tlie  Queen's  English 
soldiers  out  of  their  country,  wliich  is  nothing  but  bogs  forty  miles  either 
way.  Their  great  delight  is  robbing  one  another,  so  that  no  day  passes 
without  fighting ;  for  whenever  the  people  of  one  hamlet  know  that 
those  of  another  possess  cattle  or  other  goods,  they  immediately  make 
a  night  attack  and  kill  each  other.  When  the  English  garrisons  find  out 
who  has  lifted  the  most  cattle,  they  come  down  on  them,  and  tliey  have 
but  to  retire  to  the  mountains  with  their  wives  and  herds,  having  no 
iiouses  or  furniture  to  lose.  They  sleep  on  the  ground  upon  rushes  full 
of  water  and  ice.  Most  of  the  women  are  very  pretty  but  badly  got  up, 
for  they  Avear  but  a  shift  and  a  mantle,  and  a  great  linen  cloth  on  the 
liead  rolled  over  the  brow.  Tliey  are  great  workers  and  housewives  in 
their  way.  Tli^ise  people  call  themselves  Christians  and  say  mass.  They 
follow  the  rule  of  the  Roman  Church,  but  most  oi  their  cliurches,  mon- 
asteries, and  hermitages  are  dismantled  by  the  English  soldiers  and  by 
tlieir  local  partisans,  who  are  as  bad  as  themselves.  In  siiort,  there  is  no 
order  nor  justice  in  the  country,  and  eveiy  one  does  that  which  is  right 
ill  liis  own  eyes.  The  savages  are  well  affected  to  us  Spaniards,  because 
tliey  realise  that  we  are  attacking  the  heretics  and  are  their  great  ene- 
Tiies.  If  it  was  not  for  those  natives  who  kept  us  as  if  belonging  to 
tliemselves,  not  one  of  our  people  would  have  escaped.  We  owe  them  a 
good  turn  for  that,  though  they  were  first  to  rob  and  strip  us  when 
we  were  ct^t  on  shore,  from  whom  and  from  the  three  ships  which  con- 
, .lined  so  many  men  of  importance  those  savages  reaped  a  rich  harvest 
'  money  and  jewels."  ^ 


Vi 


)i  )- 


!| 


i      m 


The  Lord  Deputy  Sidney  wrote  in  15G7  of  the  people  of 
Munster  and  Connauq;lit: 


"Surely,  there  was  never  people  that  lived  in  more  misery  than  they 
do,  nor  as  it  should  seem  of  worse  minds,  for  matrimony  among  them  is 
no  more  regarded  in  effect  than  conjunction  between  unreasonable  beasts. 
Finally,  I  cannot  find  that  they  make  any  conscience  of  sin,  and  I  doubt 
whether  they  christen  their  children  or  no ;   for  neither  find   I  place 

1  Duro's  Armada  Invencihle,  Vol.  II.,  pp.  358-300.  Quoted  by  Mr. 
Richard  Bagwell  in  his  Ireland  vndrr  the  Tttdors,  Vol.  III.,  pp.  185,  186, 


rr 


208 


QIIKKTIONS   OF   TIIK    DAY, 


ill 


,  1 


Ijf  Tfl! 


(  ■    '      ! 


h  Mhd' 


1 

•  ■  i-  '  , 

1 

wl.cro  it  should  bo  (lone,  nor  imy  pcrHon  al)l(.  to  instrnct  them  In  the  rules 
of  u  Christian  ;  or  if  tla>y  ^n■lv  taught,  I  hw  no  ^race  in  tlieni  to  follow 
It ;  and  when  they  die,  I  cannot  see  they  make  any  account  of  the  world 
to  come."  1 

Sidney  may  havo  been  an  adverse  witufss,  but  he  was  a  man 
of  high  eluiractcr,  and  in  descrihing  that  whicli  was  before  hi.s 
eyes  v^e  can  Ixdiove  tliat  h(*  spoke  the  trutli. 

The  wars  of  the  Irish  chiefs  among  themselves  did  not  eeaso 
and  were  liardly  h;ss  cruel  than  that  waged  upon  the  natives 
by  the    invaders.     "It    is   but  fair,"   says   the   learned   and 
impartial   ilichey,  "to  judge  the  Celtic  tribes  by  their  own 
historians,  not  by  the  reports  of  l^higlisii  statesmen  concerning 
them.     The  Annals  of  the  Four  Masters  are  thorougldy  imbued 
with  tlie  Irish  spirit  of  this  period.     Althougii  detailed  as  to 
the  annals  of  the  Ulster  and  Connaiight  clans,  they  pass  by 
without   notice    many   of  the   transactions   of   Leinster   and 
Munster,  and  the  events  they  record  do  not  comprise  the  entire 
history  of  the  period;  yet  the  analysis  of  the  annals  from  l.WO 
to  WM  gives  the  following  results:  Battles,  plunderings,  etc., 
exclusive  of  those   in   which  the   English   government   was 
engaged,  110;  Irish  gentlemen  of  family  killed  in  battle,  102; 
murdered,  1(58,— many  of  them  with  circumstances  of  great 
atrocity;  and  during  this  period,  on  the  other  hand,  there  is  no 
allusion  to  the  enactment  of  any  law,  the  judicial  decision  of 
any   controversy,  the   founding  of  any  town,  monastery,  or 
church;  and  all  this  is  recorded  by  the  annalist  without  the 
slightest  expression  of  regret  or  astonishment,  and  as  if  such 
were  the  ordinary  course  of  life  in  a  Christian  nation."  ^ 

Another  and  a  terrible  element  of  evil  had  now  come  in. 
To  the  enmity  of  race  that  of  religion  had  been  added.  The 
history  of  Ireland  must  henceforth  be  read  not  by  itself  but  in 
connection  with  the  great  European  struggle  between  Catholi- 
cism and  Protestantism,  in  which  to  its  ruin  the  island  was 
involved.  England  and  the  Pale  had  become  Protestant,  at 
least  had  revolted  from  the  Pope.  This  was  enough  to  make 
the  native  Irishman  more  Papal  than  before.  Moreover,  the 
1  Quoted  by  Mr.  Bagwell,  II.,  ll;3.  2  pp,  247,  248. 


THE    miSII    CiUKSTION. 


290 


form  in  vvhicli  tlu;  now  faith  was  presented  to  the  Irish  was 
most  unhapi)y.  Auj^'licanisni,  sober,  decorous,  and  gei  'nel,  has 
never  suited  the  hot  and  cuthiisiastie  (U'h.  The  dissolution 
of  tlie  nionast(!ries  hon;  hard  on  lichind,  where  the  Chureli  was 
eminently  monastie;  so  did  ieonoelasm,  the  images  and  relies 
h.dng  dear  to  the  Irish  hviivt.  Disaffeeted  Ireland  presented 
itself  to  the  Catholie  powers  as  the  point  for  a  diversion 
against  England.  Spanish  and  Italian  trcjops  landed,  and  the 
tragedy  of  Snu-rwiek,  \vh(>r(;  a  body  of  Italians  were  put  to  tlie 
sword  by  the  I.ord  Deinity  (irey  ;i,fter  their  surrender,  might 
1)0  compared  to  the  atrocities  perpetrated  i)y  the  llonuin 
Catholic  soldiery  of  Alva  and  I'arma,  or  afterwards  by  that  of 
Tilly.  The  alliance  did  not  prevent  the.  savage  Irish  from 
stripping  and  murdering  the  crews  of  the  Armada  cast  upon 
their  coast.  T.ut  Catholie  Ireland  iiad  beeonui  tlie  feeble 
satellite  of  tin;  Catliolie  [lowers,  of  whose  acts  she  was  deemed 
the  accomplice,  and  anotiu-r  vial  of  wratli  was  thus  poured  out. 

liy  the  beginning  of  the  reign  of  dames  I.  the  conquest  had 
been  completed  after  a  fashion;  the  last  great  chief  had  been 
dispossessed;  the  last  tribe  had  been  broken  uj.;  Ireland  had 
been  carved  into  English  shires;  English  institutions  and 
English  law,  tlie  land-law  of  England  among  the  rest,  ostensibly 
prevailed.  James  I.  was  weak,  but  he  was  cultured  and  he 
had  Bacon  at  his  ear.  He  tried  to  endow  Ireland  with  lOnglish 
civilisation.  He  called  a  Parliament  for  all  Ireland.  When 
it  met  there  was  a  division  on  the  Speakership.  While  the 
majority  was  out,  the  minority  seated  its  man  in  the  chair. 
The  majority,  when  it  returned,  seated  its  man  in  the  other 
man's  lap.  Under  James,  however,  was  founded  the  Scotch 
colony  in  the  North  of  Ireland,  the  beginning  of  Ulster,  the 
hope  of  industry,  commerce,  and  civilisation. 

It  seems  pretty  clear  that  for  the  people  the  change  from 
the  tribal  to  the  manorial  system  in  itself  would  have  been  a 
blessing.  Whatever  the  fancy  about  clan  brotherhood  might 
be,  the  fact,  according  to  the  best  authority,  appears  to  have 
been  that  the  humble  clansman  was  more  degraded,  more 
trampled  on,  more  plundered  by  the  coshering  chief,  with  his 


I  i 


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800 


QUESTIONS   OK  THK    OAV 


m\ 


i\  I 


!ii 


hrij^iind  tail  of  f^.'illowfiflass,  tliim  ever  \v:is  tenant  or  poasjint 
iindor  tlui  lord  of  a  manor.  Tlic  owniT.s  and  IcndcMs  of  ciittlc, 
which  con.stitutod  wealth  and  was  the  indisijcnsablo  moans  of 
livelihood  in  a  j^jrass  country,  seem  to  have  been  not  less 
tyrannical  than  are  owners  of  land.  The  law  might  not  be 
rational  or  suitable;  but  the  peophi  were  i)rouglit,  at  all  events, 
under  the  domain  of  law,  with  the  liope  that  the  code  would 
becomi!  rational  and  be  administered  witli  justice.  Unhap[)ily, 
the  lord  of  the  nuuior  was  a  stranger  by  ratie  and  by  religion, 
while  to  the  chief  there  had  been  an  hereditary  tie  which  had 
partly  reconciled  his  clansmen  to  his  oppression.  The  land, 
confiscated  by  James  I.  as  the  property  of  the  rebel  chiefs, 
was,  in  theory  at  least,  the  property  not  of  tiie  chief  but  of  tlie 
tribe,  though  tlui  chief  being  a  local  despot,  this  nuiy  have 
been  a  distinction  rather  than  a  difference.  How  deep  tlio 
sense  of  the  wrong  thus  done  sank  into  the  heart  of  the  people, 
and  how  far  the  recollection  has  lived  and  helped  to  sustain 
agrarian  war,  are  questions  about  which  authorities  are  not 
agreed.  The  sequel  proves  clearly  enough  that  the  Celts 
bitterly  resented  the  transfer  of  tlu^  land  to  the  stranger. 

Nothing  can  keep  the  peace  between  hostile  races  on  the 
same  soil  but  an  authority  superior  to  them  both  and  wielded 
by  an  impartial  hand.  Strafford  was  born  to  rule,  und  his 
despotism  in  Ireland  would  have  been  beneficent  had  he  not 
been  under  the  necessity  of  providing  a  force  to  support 
absolutist  and  High  Church  reaction  in  England.  This  drove 
him  into  sweeping  confiscations  of  land  under  form  of  law. 
At  the  same  time,  by  the  policy  whicli  made  Ireland  a  lever 
of  Stuart  conspiracy  against  English  liberty  and  religion,  yet 
another  vial  of  wrath  was  poured  out. 

By  the  quarrel  between  Charles  and  the  Parliament  an 
opportunity  was  once  more  given  to  the  Celts.  They  embraced 
it  by  either  murdering  outright,  or  casting  out  to  perish  of 
destitution  and  nakedness  all  the  Trotestants  on  whom  they 
could  lay  hands.  Dublin  narrowly  escaped.  To  doubt  tliat 
there  was  a  massacre  seems  absurd,  whether  the  massacre  was 
premeditated  or  not,  and  however  great  the  exaggerations  may 


TIFF'     FFHSIF    (^HFISTFON. 


;?ni 


Ii.'ivo  Uecn.     Could  fnarondoii,  with  Mm  Ih'kI,  |)OH.sil)le  moiins  of 
iiiforniiition  and  no  toiuUnuiy  to  n»ii|,Mii fy  I'nritan  wrong's,  hiivo 
saidtliiit  forty  or  fifty  thousuiul  Trotcstants  had  lu^cn  luHcd  if 
there  had  been  no  killiiij,'  at  all?     There  followed  ii  general 
insurreetion   headed  by  eeelesuistios,  with  the  Jesuit  in  the 
haekgrouiui,  and  a  revolutionary  governnuuit  was  formed  at 
Kilkenny    un(h'r   the    presideney   of   a    Papal    Envoy.      The 
I'hiKlish  fore(^  was  not  only  small,  hut  divided  a<,'ainst  itself, 
and  might  have  been  easily  ovenrome.     I5ut  the;  Celts  .showed 
their   usual    laek    of   the    [jowers   of   organisation   and   self- 
government.     The  party  whose  chief  aim  was  the  roeovery  of 
the  land  quarrelled  with  the  i)arty  whose  (Oiief  aim  was  the 
restoration    of    the    Church.      No   one    worthy    to    command 
appeared.     There  ensued  a  murderous,  aimless,  and  bootless 
civil  war,  in  which  fearful  atrocities  were  committed  on  both 
sides,  and  (juarter  was  given  on  neither.     iSono  were  more 
ruthless  than  the  settlers  from  Scotland.     The  Irish  pojjula- 
tion  of  Island  Magee,  though  not  involved  in  the  rebellion, 
was  massacred,  man,  woman,  and  child,  by  the  Scotch  garrison 
of  Carrickfergus.     According  to  the  Protestant  historian,  Bor- 
lase,  Sir  W.  Cole's  regiment  performed  the  exploit  of  starving, 
of  the  vulgar  sort  whoso  goods  were  seized  on  by  it,  seven 
thousand.     One   redeeming  incident  alone   there  was.     The 
evangelical  virtues  of  the  Protestant  JUsliop  J5edcll  protected 
him  and  those  who  took  refuge  with  him  fmm  the  rage  of  the 
Catholics.     He  was  made  a  prisoner,  l)ut  was  treated  with 
kindness  by  liis  captors,  and  when  he  died  the  Irish  army 
buried  him  with  military  lionours,  and  joined  over  his  grave 
in  the  prayer  that  the  last  of  the  English  might  rest  in  peace. 
At  last  on  the  wings  of  victory  came  Cromwell,  and  with  one 
terrible  stroke  made  peace.     The  great  man  himself  deplored 
the  necessity,  in  which  some  of  his  worshippers  now  exult. 
(Quarter  in  those  ages  was  not  given  to  a  garrison  which  after 
summons  had   stood   a   storm.     The   Catholic   and   Imperial 
armies  put  to  the  sword  not  only  the  garrison  but  the  inhabi- 
tants of  captured  cities.     The  Irish  Catholics  had  given  no 
quarter.     Kinuccini,  the  Papal  Envoy,  reports  with  exultation 


]' 


302 


QUESTIONS  OF   THE   DAY. 


Vr;i 


w 


'  I  f 


*M;: 


that  after  a  victory  no  prisoners  were  taken;  ''every  one,"  says 
the  holy  man,  "slaughtered  his  adversary,  and  Sir  Pheliin 
O'Neill,  who  bore  himself  most  bravely,  when  asked  by  the 
colonels  for  a  list  of  his  prisoners,  swore  that  his  regiment  had 
not  one,  as  he  had  ordered  his  men  to  kill  them  all  without 
distinction."  ^ 

Witli  tlie  ruthlessness  common  to  all  parties  in  those  days, 
Cromwell  deported  or  sent  into  exile  a  good  deal  of  the  loose 
savagery  which  the  civil  war  had  left  behind.  That  he  meant 
to  extirpate  tlie  Irish  people  is  a  fiction,  but  he  did  mean  to 
extirpate  Irish  barbarism,  and  to  plant  law,  order,  and  indus- 
try in  its  room.  Confiscation  of  land  there  was  on  a  terrible 
scale  to  satisfy  the  claims  of  the  soldiers,  Avho  had  been  paid 
in  land-scrip.  J^ut  this  struck  tlie  Catholic  proprietors,  who 
had  played  their  game  and  lost,  not  tlie  peasantry,  Avho,  if  thoy 
chose  to  work,  would  probably  be  under  better,  certainly  under 
thriftier,  masters.  Cromwell  proclaimed  to  the  Catholics 
liberty  of  private  conscience.  The  Mass  in  those  days  he 
could  not  have  tolerated  if  he  would,  and  when  we  consider 
what  the  JMass  is,  what  it  has  dene,  and  how  soon  the  common 
people  v.'ould  have  been  weaned  from  it,  we  may  be  rather 
disposed  to  wink  at  this  departure  from  religious  liberty. 
The  Protector  treated  Ireland  as  "a  clean  paper,"  to  use  his 
own  expression,  for  the  introduction  of  legal  reforms  for  which 
the  professional  "sons  of  Zeruiah  "  were  too  strong  in  England. 
But  the  greatest  of  all  the  benefits  conferred  by  him  alike  on 
Ireland  and  Great  Britain  was  the  Union,  which  he  was  able 
to  accomplish  without  buying  anybody,  by  the  simple  exercise 
of  a  might  Avhich  in  this  case  assuredly  was  right.  It  is 
almost  heartrending  to  think  that  the  Irish  Question  was 
settled  in  the  right  way  nearly  two  centuries  and  a  half  ago. 

Of  the  acts  of  the  Eestoration  the  worst  was  the  dissolution 
of  the  Union,  The  Protestant  proprietary  in  Ireland  had 
interest  enough  partly  to  hold  its  ground.  But  the  strong  arm 
of  beneficent  and  civilising  power  was  gone,  and  the  helpless 
country  and  its  people  were  left  to  their  own  courses  again. 
^  The  Embassi/  in  Ireland,  p.  175,  Annie  Iluttou's  transLation. 


f  J 


THE   IRISH  QUESTION. 


303 


Another  consequence  of  the  Kestoration,  big  with  evil,  was 
the  re-establisliment  of  the  Anglican  State  Church  in  Ireland. 

James  II.  renewed  the  attempt  of  his  father  against  English 
liberty  and  religion,  and  in  a  form  more  dangerous  and  hateful 
than  that  in  which  it  had  been  made  by  his  father,  a  form 
which  threatened  with  extinction  the  political  and  spiritual 
life  of  the  nation.  Once  more  Ireland  had  the  misfortune  to 
be  used  as  the  lever  of  the  Stuart  policy.  England  saw  with 
disgust  and  dismay  regiments  of  Irish  Papists  moving  along 
her  highways.  Ireland  was  put  into  the  hands  of  Tyrconnel, 
who,  though  a  reckless  ruffian,  was  accepted  as  the  leader  of 
the  Catholic  Celts  at  that  time.  Under  this  man's  auspices  a 
Celtic  and  Catholic  Parliament  passed  an  Act  of  Attainder 
proscribing  at  one  swoop,  without  regard  to  age  or  sex,  the 
whole  Protestant  proprietary  of  Ireland.  It  is  TyrconnePs 
Parliament,  a  Celtic  and  Catholic  Parliament,  not  Grattan's 
Parliament,  a  Parliament  of  Protestant  gentry,  which  it  is  now 
proposed  to  revive. 

Overwhelmingly  outnumbered  and  driven  to  bay  behind  the 
mouldering  walls  of  Derry,  the  stronger  race  showed  in 
extremity  a  force  which  in  extremity  it  may  show  again. 
The  result,  as  all  know,  was  the  victory  of  that  race  and  the 
miserable  subjection  of  the  Celt.  The  most  warlike  of  the 
Celtic  youth  went,  and  for  a  century  afterwards  continued  to 
go,  as  food  for  powder  and  at  the  same  time  as  the  soldiery  of 
reactionary  despotism,  into  the  service  of  the  Catholic  kings. 
In  that  service  Irish  soldiers  of  fortune  won  distinction, 
though  Brown  and  Wall  are  not  Celtic  names. 

Then  followed  the  era  of  the  penal  code,  cruel  and  hateful. 
Mark,  however,  that  the  penal  code  was  not  intended,  like  the 
religious  codes  of  Eoman  Catholic  countries  and  the  Inquisi- 
tion, to  rack  conscience  and  compel  apostasy,  but  to  keep  the 
Celts  disarmed,  socially  and  politically  as  well  as  physically, 
and  prevent  them  from  repeating,  as,  if  the  power  had  reverted 
to  their  hands,  they  would  have  repeated,  the  acts  of  Tyrcon- 
nel's  Parliament.  Remember  too  what  was  being  done  in 
countries  where  Roman  Catholicism  reigned.     Remember  how 


*f 


!  ( 


I-;  I 


li 


1 1 


.1 


301 


Ql'ESTIONS   OF   THE   DAY. 


Ir  ■ 


!    •  '.': 


;  M     '( 


!  ' 


!.'! 


in  every  Roman  Cutliolic  kii,<,'dom  Protestantism  was  treated 
as  treason;  how  Louis  XIV.  was  banishing  the  Muguenots, 
butclicring  thiun,  sending  tlieir  ministers  to  the  galleys;  how 
the  autoH  da  /e'  were  going  on  in  Spain;  liow  the  Jesuit  was 
still  busy  everywhere  with  his  conspiracy  for  the  extirpation 
of  I'rotestantism  by  the  Catholic  sword.  Forty  years  after 
this  tlie  Koman  Catholic  I'rince  Bishop  of  Salzburg  expelled 
the  whole  Protestant  population  from  his  dominions.  Irish 
history  in  these  times,  to  be  fairly  read,  must  be  read,  not  by 
itself,  but  in  connection  witli  tliat  of  the  grea,t  conflict  between 
Protestantism  and  Roman  Catholicism  over  all  Europe.  Not 
a  few  of  the  exiled  Huguenots  settled  in  Ireland,  ocular 
warnings  of  the  fate  which  the  Protestants  might  expect  if 
their  enemy  were  unchained.  When  danger  passed  away  and 
cruel  fear  subsided,  the  penal  code  was  practically  relaxed, 
the  growing  spirit  of  religious  indifference  and  free-thinking 
embodied  in  Che  terfield's  Lord-Lieutenancy  helping  the  pro* 
cess,  and  before  tlie  autos  da  fe  had  come  to  an  end  the  Roman 
Catholics  in  Ireland,  though  politically  unenfranchised,  as  a 
Church  had  become  practically  free;  free,  at  least,  so  far  as  a 
Church  could  be  while  another  Cliurcli,  and  that  of  tlie 
minority,  was  established  by  the  State. 

To  the  High  Church  bishops  of  the  Anglican  establishment, 
the  Roman  Catholics  Avere  less  the  objects  of  persecuting  anti- 
pathy than  the  Presbyterians  in  the  Xorth  of  Ireland,  in  wlioni 
lay  the  hope  of  industry,  commerce,  and  civilisation  for  the 
rest  of  the  island.  Of  these,  the  bishops  succeeded  in  harrying 
many  out  of  the  country,  and  sending  them  to  fight,  with 
hearts  full  of  the  bitterness  of  wrong,  against  Great  Britain  in 
the  American  Colonies.  The  Anglican  Church  itself  did  noth- 
ing, and  could  do  nothing,  either  for  religion  or  for  civilisation. 
Its  system  was  fatally  iinsuited  to  the  people.  It  never  made 
converts,  where  thorough-going  and  fervent  Protestantism,  if 
it  had  only  had  a  free  course,  might  have  made  many.  In 
Francis  Newman's  ''Phases  of  Faith,"  there  is  a  remarkable 
account  of  the  impression  which  a  Protestant  preacher  of  that 
type  did  make.     The  Anglican  Church  showed  all  the  worst 


THP]  IRISH  QUESTION. 


.305 


marks  of  an  establislinient.  Not  only  did  it  not  advance  or 
propagate;  it  sank  into  miserable  lethargy,  its  churches  were 
left  unrepaired,  sinecurism  and  pluralism  aboundcid  in  it, 
half  a  dozen  of  its  })arishes  were  clubbed  to  make  an  income 
for  one  man  ;  to  collect  tithe  was  its  chief  care  ;  Irish 
parsons  lived  in  English  cities  on  pretence  that  there  was  no 
parsonage  in  their  parishes,  spending  the  money  wliich  the 
tithe-proctor  wrung  for  them  from  a  starving  peasantry.  In 
addition  to  the  usual  evils  of  establishment,  the  State  Church 
of  Ireland  had  those  of  a  Church  alien  to  the  people;  it  had 
also  those  of  a  jmlitical  garrison.  Its  lieads  were  political 
intriguers,  some  of  them,  such  as  Stone,  of  the  worst  class. 
Swift  could  say  that  the  British  Government  appointed  pious 
and  learned  men  to  the  Irish  bishoprics,  but  they  were  all 
waylaid  on  Hounslow  IIc:itli  by  highwaymen,  who  robbed  them 
of  their  letters  patent  and  stole  into  tlieir  sees. 

In  the  early  part  of  the  eighteenth  century  Ireland  desired 
union.  Union  was  withheld.  The  refusal  was,  saving  the 
dissolution  of  Cromwell's  united  Commonwealth,  the  most 
calamitous  blunder  that  Jiritish  statesmanship  ever  made.  If 
the  sons  could  ever  deserve  to  suffer  for  the  sins  of  the  fathers, 
the  England  of  our  generation  would  deserve  to  suffer  for  this 
misdeed.  Commercial  jealousy  was,  in  all  i)robability,  the 
main  cause.  Commerce  has  served  civilisation  well;  but  there 
is  also  a  heavy  account  against  her  for  inhuman  cupidity, 
monopoly,  and  commercial  war.  In  Ireland's  expression  of 
desire  for  union  the  voice  of  her  true  interest  had  been  heard. 

Instead  of  union,  to  Poyning's  Law,  subjecting  the  legisla- 
tion of  the  Irish  Parliament  to  the  control  of  the  Privy  Coun- 
cil, was  added  the  Act  of  George  I.  declaring  that  the  British 
Parliament  had  power  to  legislate  for  Ireland.  Thus  Ireland 
was  placed  in  the  position  of  a  dependency  with  a  vassal 
Parliament;  that  arrangement  manifestly  pregnant  with  jeal- 
ousy, discord,  and  revolt,  to  which,  after  decisive  experience 
of  its  results,  the  sagacity  of  British  statesmen  now  desires  to 
return.  The  fetters  imposed  on  Irish  trade,  particularly  on 
tlie  trade  in  wool,  the  Irish  itaple,  for  the  supposed  benefit  of 


1^ 


I! 


if 


306 


QUESTIONS   OF   THE   DAY. 


1 1   l1 


i^     I; 


the  Englisli  trader,  bespoke  tlie  evil  spirit  wliich  was  universal 
in  those  days,  and  were  eounterparts  of  tlios(!  wliieli  were  laid 
on  the  trade  of  the  A.nierican  Colonies,  and,  fnlly  as  niuoli  as 
any  stamp  or  tea  tax,  were  the  cause  of  the  Anieriean  revolt. 
Their  iniquitous  ])ursuer,  together-  with  tlie  friction  inevitably 
caused  l)y  the  political  arrangement,  the  abuses  of  the  Irisli 
pension  list,  and  the  aspirations  excited  by  the  possession  of  a 
Parliament  gave  birth,  among  the  dominant  race  at  least,  to  a 
sort  of  bastard  nationality,  which  began  to  assume  the  form  of 
a  struggle  for  independence.  A  bastard  nationality  only  it 
was,  since  the  mass  of  the  people  remained  political  and  social 
serfs.  Molyneux  sounded  the  first  note  in  a  treatise  on  the 
power  of  the  Ikitish  I'arliament  to  bind  Ireland.  Swift, 
though  he  hated  and  despised  tlie  country  to  which  his  char- 
acter had  banished  liim,  out  of  mere  revenge  and  mischief, 
played,  and  of  coiirse  played  venomously,  a  patriot's  part. 

The  manorial  system  has  not  a  little  to  say  for  itself,  botli 
economically  and  socially,  so  long  as  the  landlord  pays  for 
improvements,  does  his  duty,  resides  on  the  estate,  and  main- 
tains kindly  relations  Avith  his  people.  But  of  the  Irish  land- 
lords many  Avere  absentees,  rack-renting  their  tenants  througli 
merciless  middlemen.  Tliose  who  were  resident  were  com- 
monly aliens  in  religion,  and  as  a  class  improvident  and 
worthless,  though  some  of  them,  especially  those  of  old  fami- 
lies, were  popular  Avith  the  peasantry,  not  the  less  on  account 
of  the  reckless  profusion  Avhich  often  brought  them  to  ruin. 
More  oppressive  and  insolent  than  the  great  landlord  Avas  tlie 
squireen.  The  landlord  rack-rented  and  yet  did  not  provide 
improvements.  Hence  agrarian  conspiracy  under  tlie  name  of 
White  boy  ism,  and  outrage  Avhieli  assumed  forms  only  too 
familiar  to  the  cruelly  excitable  Celt,  such  as  carding,  hough- 
ing, and  mutilation  not  only  of  men  but  of  cattle.  It  was,  in 
fact,  a  desperate  social  Avar  for  the  land,  in  Avhich  on  both 
sides  ferocity  reached  an  almost  heroic  pitch.  A  party  of 
Whiteboys  entered  a  house  in  Avhich  Avere  a  man,  his  Avife,  and 
their  daughter,  a  little  girl.  The  three  Avere  all  together  in 
the  same  room.     The  ruffians  rushed  into  the  room,  dragged 


THE   IRISH   QUESTION. 


307 


the  man  out  of  the  house,  and  there  proceeded  to  murder  him. 
In  tlie  room  where  the  woman  and  the  girl  remained,  tliere  was 
a  closet  with  a  hole  in  its  door,  through  which  a  person  placed 
inside  could  see  into  the  room.  The  woman  concealed  the 
little  girl  in  this  closet,  and  said  to  her,  "No^v,  child,  they 
are  murdering  your  father  downstairs,  and  when  they  have 
murdered  him,  they  will  come  up  here  and  murder  me.  Take 
care  that  while  they  are  doing  it  you  look  well  at  them,  and 
mind  you  swear  to  them  when  you  see  them  in  the  court.  I 
will  throw  turf  on  the  lire  tlie  last  thing  to  give  you  light,  and 
struggle  hard  that  you  may  have  time  to  take  a  good  view." 
The  little  girl  looked  on  through  the  hole  in  the  closet  door 
while  hej  mother  was  being  murdered.  She  marked  the  mur- 
derers well.  She  swore  to  them  when  she  saw  them  in  a  court 
of  justice;  and  they  were  convicted  on  her  evidence. 

The  people  multiplied  heedlessly,  their  Church  practically 
encouraging  them,  as  it  everywhere  does,  in  improvidence. 
As  the  land  generally  would  not  well  bear  grain,  even  if  the 
holdings  had  been  large  enough,  the  only  food  by  whicli  the 
swarms  could  be  maintained  was  the  potato,  precarious  from 
its  liability  to  disease,  as  well  as  barbarous,  to  force  which 
the  soil  was  recklessly  exhausted  by  burning.  The  result  was 
a  peasantry  living  sometimes  on  potato  mixed  with  seaweed, 
and  a  reign  of  misery  which  Swift  grimly  characterised  by 
proposing  in  a  horrible  squib  that  babies  should  be  used 
as  food. 

Praise  and  thanks  are  due  to  the  Catholic  priesthood  for 
having  been  the  comfort  and  the  guide  of  the  Irish  peasant  in 
his  darkest  hour.  Ou  the  other  hand,  the  influence  of  an 
anti-economical  and  obscurantist  Church  must  be  the  same 
everywhere,  the  same  in  Ireland  as  in  Spain,  Portugal,  South- 
ern Italy,  Brittany,  and  the  Valais.  Had  Ireland  been  left 
wholly  in  the  hands  of  a  Spanish  or  Calabrian  priesthood,  what 
would  have  been  its  state  now?  The  history  of  Roman  Catholic 
society  affords  us  no  reason  for  believing  that  the  priest  would 
have  bearded  the  landlord  in  the  interest  of  the  peasant.  It 
affords  all  possible  reason  for  believing  that  he  would  have 


•-'i  V- 


1 

it 


iV' 


I.  I 


i"  f 


308 


QUESTIONS   OF   TIIK   DAY, 


.     I' 


n  P 


;.  I  ■ 


complacently  sliiirod  tho  fruits  of  vaok-ront.  This,  at  least,  is 
what  he  did  in  Spain,  in  Italy,  and  in  France  down  to  the  time 
of  the  Kevolution.  Tlie  history  of  Ireland  as  it  has  been  is 
dark  enougli.  What  it  might  have  been  without  British  con- 
nection  we  cannot  tell.  That  it  would  have  been  bright  and 
happy,  there  is  nothing  eitlier  in  the  Irisli  horoscope  at  the 
time  of  the  Norman  conipiest  or  in  anv  subsequent  manifesta- 
tions to  lead  us  to  assun 

When  Great  Britain  ^\  rsted  in  the  struggle  with  the 

American  Colonies,  and  haa  France,  Siiani,  and  Holland,  as 
well  as  the  Colonists,  at  her  throat,  bin;  Irish  Protestant 
gentry,  who  after  all  depended  for  tlieir  ascendancy  and  almost 
for  tlieir  existence  as  an  order  on  their  connection  with  her, 
took  advantage,  without  any  false  chivalry,  of  her  distress  to 
extort  from  her  Parliamentary  independence.  This  she  was 
fain  to  concede;  though,  had  she  not  been  unnerved  by  faction 
as  Avell  as  depressed  by  defeat,  a  few  regiments  of  regular 
troops  would  probably  have  sufficed  to  cpiell  the  Volunteers. 
Grattan,  in  rhetorical  ecstasy,  on  his  knees  adored  the  newly- 
risen  nation  in  presence  of  a  J'arliament  which  traced  its 
pedigree  to  the  Parliament  of  the  Pale,  and  Avas  holding  in 
social  and  ])olitical  bondage  three-fourths  of  the  Irish  people. 

Left  to  tliemselves,  the  two  Parliaments  would  have  speedily 
nown  asunder.  They  did,  in  fact,  fly  asunder  on  the  question 
of  the  Regency,  and  a  rupture  of  the  Kingdom  Avas  averted 
only  by  the  recovery  of  George  III.  Generally  they  Avere  held 
together  in  uneasy  Avedlock  by  Castle  patronage,  including  the 
rich  bishoprics  and  deaneries,  and  by  sheer  corruption,  to- 
gether Avith  a  large  number  of  nomination  boroughs  in  the  gift 
of  the  Crown.  But  there  Avas  a  still  stronger  though  latent 
bond.  Grattan's  Parliament  of  Protestant  proprietors  kncAv, 
amidst  all  its  patriotic  declamation  against  British  tyranny, 
that  Avith  British  connection  its  OAvn  life  Avas  bound  up.  Had 
it  broken  with  England,  Tyrconnel's  Parliament  Avould  have 
taken  its  place.  It  never  dared  to  grant  Catholic  Emancipa- 
tion or  Parliamentary  reform.  About  its  last  measure  was  an 
Act  of  Indemnity  for  the  illegal  infliction  of  torture  by  the 


THE  IRISH  QUESTION. 


309 


lasli  on  suspected  Catholies.  It  iimst  always  have  remained 
what  it  was,  a  scion  of  the  rarliaiiu'ut  of  the  Palo.  Eloquent 
speakers  it  had.  Its  corruption,  its  orgies,  its  duelling,  are 
facts  not  less  certain,  Tlie  evidence  of  Sir  Jonah  Barrington 
is  enough. 

Pitt,  strong  in  his  great  majority,  and  lifted  above  com- 
mercial prejudices  by  the  teaching  of  Adaui  Smith,  projected 
a  liberal  measure  of  commercial  union  for  Ireland.  He  was 
baffled  as  much  by  Irish  jealousy  of  anything  that  came  from 
England  as  by  British  prejudice  or  faction.  He  designed  for 
Ireland  political  reform,  the  abolition  of  corruption  and  abuses, 
and  a  measure  of  justice  to  the  Catholics.  As  a  liarbinger  of 
that  policy,  Eitzwilliam  was  sent  to  Irelaiul.  But  Fitzwillam 
was  headlong  where  he  ought  to  have  been  most  cautious, 
prematurely  proclaimed  his  mission,  and  began  to  dismiss 
powerful  friends  of  government.  Pitt  was  at  the  head  of  a 
coalition  ministry,  of  which  one  wing  was  strongly  Tory. 
The  consequence  was  a  break-down  of  Pitt's  liberal  policy, 
and  at  a  moment  which  unhappily  proved  to  have  been  critical. 

Then  came  the  French  Revolution,  and  called  into  activity 
the  free-thinking  republicanism  which  the  intolerant  bishops 
of  the  State  Church  had  helped  by  tlieia'  vexations  to  foster  at 
Belfast.  Disturbance,  once  set  on  foot  among  the  dominant 
race,  spread,  as  it  had  done  in  the  time  of  Charles  I.,  to  the 
subject  race,  taking  the  usual  forni  of  agrarian  conspiracy  and 
outrage.  The  Catliolics  having  risen,  the  Protestants  turned 
on  them  as  their  i  imemciial  enemies,  and  there  ensued  over 
certain  districts  a  reign  of  terror  carried  on  by  the  Protestant 
yeomanry,  whose  practices  were  flogging,  pitcli-cappiug,  picket- 
ing, and  half-hanging,  as  those  of  the  Catholics  were  shooting, 
carding,  and  houghing.  Of  the  Catholic  priesthood  a  few 
favoured  the  insurrection,  and  one  afterwards  became  the  rebel 
general;  but  most  of  them  shrank  from  anything  connected 
with  the  French  Kevolution,  and  not  on  them  rests  any  of  the 
responsibility  of  this  worse  than  civil  war.  At  this  time  they 
were  generally  educated  abroad,  and  identified  with  the  Con- 
tinental   Church   which   the   Revolution  was  threatening  to 


i  » 


III: 


Jl 


It 


/.  f 


mmmm 


810 


QUESTIONS   OP  'niE   DAY. 


ilV  >'  - 


'  y 


I 


i   I  ' 


destroy.    Meanwhile  Wolfe  Tone,  the  only  real  leader  whom  the 
Celtic  insurrection  produced,  a  brave,  gay,  clever,  and  sincere, 
though  light-headed  and  tii)sy,  man  of  action,  had  won  the  ear  of 
the  French  Revolutionary  government  and  obtained  from  it  a 
promise  of  assistance.     In  fulfilment  of  that  promise  came  an 
armament  commanded  by  Iloche,  whicjh  was  only  prevented 
from  landing  by  weather,  and  which  had  it  landed  must  for  a 
time  have  overrun  Ireland,  though  it  would  presently  have  been 
cut  off  by  the  British  fleet.     Winds  and  waves  saved  the  King- 
dom.    Napoleon,  left  supreme  by  Hoche's  death,  liked  not  the 
aspect  of  Irish  insurrection  and  refused  to  repeat  Hoche's 
attempt.     ''Ireland,"  he  said  to  the  Directory,  "has  made  a 
diversion  for  you;  what  more  do  you  want  of  it?"     To  the 
furies  of  civil  war,  however,  those  of  invasion  had  been  added. 
It  is  useless   to   recount   the   infernal    history  of   1798,  the 
passions  of  which  only  the  vilest  demagogism  would  wish,  for 
political  purposes,  to  revive.     Amidst  that  murderous  chaos 
the  one  power  of  mercy,  let  the  traducers  of  England  take  it  as 
they  will,  was  the  regular  army  of  Great  Britain.  ^ 

Grattan's  Parliament  and  the  system  upon  which  it  stood 
had  sunk,  with  social  order,  in  blood  and  flame.  It  is  most 
hkely  that  Pitt  had  before  contemplated  union,  and  that  it 
was  his  deliberate  policy,  not,  as    Lord  Rosebery  says,  the 


IIS' 


»  "The  respect  and  veneration  with  wliich  I  heard  the  names  of  Hunter, 
Skeret,  and  Stewart  .  .  .  pronounced,  and  tlie  high  encomiums  passed  on 
the  Scotch  and  English  regiments,  under  wliose  protection  the  misguided 
partisans  of  rebellion  were  enabled  to  return  in  safety  to  their  homes, 
convinces  me  that  the  salvation  of  the  country  was  as  much  owing  to  the 
forbearance,  humanity,  and  prudence  of  the  regular  troops  as  To  their 
discipline  and  bravery.  The  moment  the  militia,  yeomanry,  and  Orange- 
men were  separated  from  the  army,  confidence  was  restored." —  Wake- 
field's Irelaml  H.,  '?>12.  The  answer  made  to  this  by  those  who  begrudge 
honour  to  the  British  army  is  that  Wakefield  was  not  an  official  write'I-, 
and  that  he  wrote  fourteen  years  after  the  event ;  as  though  most  histo- 
rians were  official,  and  a  writer  could  not  remember  an  important  and 
impressive  circumstance  for  fourteen  years.  The  troops,  of  which  Aber- 
crombie  spoke  of  as  "  only  formidable  to  their  friends,"  were  not  the 
regulars,  but  the  militia.     (See  Cornwallis's  Despatch,  Sept.  25,  1798.) 


I 


III:. 


THE  IRISH  QUESTION. 


311 


counsel  of  his  despair;  though  they  foully  slander  him  who 
insinuate  tliat,  to  pave  the  way  for  union,  he   let  rebellion 
have  Its  course.     Union  now  was  evidently  the  only  policy 
To  take  both  races  and  religions  under  the  broad  a3gis  of  the 
Imperial  Parliament  was  the  sole  chance  of  ending  a  civil 
war  of  devils  between  them,  and  of  saving  the  weaker  race 
trom  the  vengeance  which  would  have  been  hailed  upon  it  by 
the  stronger.     Best  of  all  would  it  have  been  to  follow  the 
example  of  Cromwell,  declare  Ireland  united  to  Great  Britain, 
and  call  lier  representatives  to  the  Imperial  Parliament.     On 
this  Pitt  did  not  venture.     The  alternative  was  to  compound 
with  a  powerful  oligarchy  for  the  loss  of  its  field  of  ambition 
and  patronage.     This  was  done,  and  it  was  dirty  work,  as 
Cornwalhs  bitterly  complains.     But  it  would  not  have  been 
done  by  a  man  so  upright  and  honourable  as  Cornwallis,  had 
he  not  been  profoundly  convinced  of  the  necessity  and  riglit- 
eousness  of  the  measure.     That  the  Union  was  carried  by 
bribery  has  been  conclusively  disproved  by  Dr.  Dunbar  In 
gram,i  whose  treatises  they  only  refuse  to  read  who  do  not 
desire  to  know  the  truth.     The  money  which  has  been  mis- 
taken for  bribes  was  compensation,  for  the  loss  of  nomination 
boroughs  given  under  the  authority  of  Parliament  in  accord- 
ance with  the  notions  of  that  day,  and  given  without  distinc- 
tion  to  supporters  and  opponents  of  the  Union.     Whence,  in 
fact,  could  the  money  for  bribery  so  colossal  have  come?    Not 
certainly,  from   Pitt's   purse   or  any  fund  under  Pitt's  per- 
sonal control;  while  if  it  came  from  the  secret  service  fund 
It  must  have  appeared  in  the  public  accounts  in  gross  though 
not  in  detail.  ,  * 

That  the  measure  was  not  imposed  by  British  force  is  proved 
by  Cornwallis 's  confidential  statement  that  in  July,  1799, 
wlien  the  political  struggle  was  at  its  heiglit,  the  army  remain- 
ing in  Ireland  was  sufficient  to  preserve  peace,  but  totally 
incompetent  to  resist  foreign  invasion.  In  September,  1798, 
he  reckoned  his  effective  force  of  British  regulars  at  four 

\Two  Chapters  of  Irish  History,  and  A  History  of  the  Legislative 
Union  of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland. 


II' 


)  1 


'I! 


ni2 


QIIKSTIONS   OK   THE   DAY. 


i! 


regiments,  comprising  in  till  (Uglitcen  Imndivtl  men  ;  and  his 
total  force  of  all  kinds  ilid  not  really  (sxiiecd  forty-live  thou- 
sand. There  was  no  rising  of  any  importance  against  the 
Union  even  in  Dublin,  which,  as  the  capital,  had  most  to  lose. 
The  leaders  of  the  Catholics  are  alh^ged  to  have  been  decoyed 
by  a  promise  of  Emancipation.  No  pledge  was  given  by  Pitt; 
to  what  extent  expectations  were  held  out  it  is  diflicnilt  to 
decide.  I^ut  there  was  a  motive  for  acquiescing  in  the  meas- 
ure, which  amidst  recondite  speculations  and  conjectures  is 
too  much  left  out  of  sight.  All  who  had  property  to  be  plun- 
dered or  throats  to  be  cut  wore  likely  to  embrace  the  only 
visible  mode  of  escape  from  a  sanguinary  chaos.  That  there 
was  a  concerted  destruction  by  British  statesmen  of  their 
papers  relating  to  this  period,  to  conceal  their  infamy,  is  an 
imagination  worthy  of  those  wlio  seem  to  think  that  there  was 
no  honour  or  beneficence  in  British  statesmen  before  their 
own  day.^ 

Some  of  the  leading  opponents  of  the  Union,  such  as  Foster, 
Ponsonby,  and  Parnell,  ratiiied  the  act  when  it  was  done  by 
the  acceptance  of  larg(^  sums  as  compensation,  Grattan  sat  in 
the  Imperial  Parliamtnt  for  an  English  nomination  borough 
and  voted  for  a  Coercion  Bill.  Plunket  likewise  sat  in  the 
Imperial  Parliament.  He  had  said  that  he  would  resist  Unicu 
to  the  last  gasp  of  his  breath  and  the  last  drop  of  his  blood, 
that  he  would  swear  his  children  at  the  altar  to  eternal  resist- 
ance to  it.  Afterwards  as  a  member  of  the  United  Parlia- 
ment and  the  great  advocate  of  Catholic  Emancipation  there, 
he  said:  "As  an  Irishman  I  opposed  that  union;  as  an  Irish- 
man I  avow  that  I  did  so  openly  and  boldly,  nor  am  1  now 

1  The  sole  basis  for  the  statoraent  appears  to  be  a  passage,  misread  by 
the  eyes  of  prejudice,  in  Ross's  Preface  to  tlie  Coriiwallis  Correspondence  ; 
the  preservation  of  which  correspondence  is  itself  a  confutation  of  the 
statement.  Ross  uses  "purposely,"  in  contrast  to  the  neglect  by  which 
he  says  some  of  the  papers  liavc  perished.  He  does  not  hint  at  concert, 
and,  of  the  papers  purposely  destroyed,  some  were  distroyed  at  a  late 
date  and  by  persons  not  implicated  in  the  transactions.  He  says  that  all 
facilities  were  given  to  his  investigations  both  at  the  State  Paper  Oliice 
and  in  Dublin  Castle. 


THE    IRISH   QLKHTION. 


313 


ashamed  of  what  T  then  did.  But  tliough  in  my  resistanon  to 
it  I  luid  Imm  pn-purcd  to  go  th(!  h'ligth  of  any  man,  I  am  now 
equally  prepared  to  do  all  in  my  power  to  render  it  (dose  and 
indissoluble.  One  of  tlie  apprehensions  on  whieh  my  opposi- 
tion was  founded,  1  am  liai)py  to  say,  has  been  disappointed 
by  the  event.  [  had  been  afraid  that  the  interest  of  Ireland, 
on  the  abolition  of  her  separate  Legislature,  would  come  to  be 
discussed  in  a  hostile  I'arliament.  liut  I  can  now  state  —  and 
1  Avish  when  1  speak  that  I  could  be  heard  l)y  the  whole  of 
Ireland  — that  during  tlie  time  that  1  liave  sat  in  tlie  United 
I'arliameut,  I  have  found  eveiy  question  that  related  to  the 
interests  or  security  of  that  country  entertained  witli  indul- 
gence, and  treated  with  tlie  most  deliberato  regard."  ' 

It  is  said  that  Pitt  ought  to  have  tested  the  sentiment  of 
tlie  Irisli  nation  by  dissolving  the  Dublin  Parliament  and 
liolding  a  general  election  on  the  issue  of  Union.  How  could 
the  sentiment  of  the  nation  be  cested  by  an  election  to  Parlia- 
ment to  which  three-fourths  of  the  nation  were  not  eligible 
and  which  Avas  a  Parliament  of  nomination  boroughs?  There 
was  no  Irish  assembly  or  authority  of  any  kind  competent  to 
speak  for  Ireland  as  a  nation.  The  only  authority  practically 
existing  in  the  island  was  the  British  power,  by  which  alone 
law  and  order  Ave  re  upheld. 

That  the  Union  Avas  politically  unfair  to  Ireland  cannot  be 
pretended.  Slie  has  ahvays  had  her  fair  share  of  the  repre- 
sentation. She  has  now  tAventy-three  members  more  than  her 
share,  and  thus  swells  to  thirty-four  a  Home  Rule  majority 
which  Avould  of  right  be  only  eleven.  For  some  years  under 
zhe  reign  of  the  Whig?,,  her  members  held  the  balance  betAveen 
the  parties,  and,  as  Ava  have  good  reason  to  know,  they  hold 
it  now. 

To  all  the  offices,  honours,  and  employments  of  the  Empire, 
the  native  of  Irehaid  has  been  admitted  on  a  perfect  equality 
Avith  the  other  citizens  of  the  United  Kingdom.  India  has  had 
two  Irish  Viceroys ;  natives  of  Ireland  command  the  Britisli 

1  PlunkefsLifc,  II.,  104.  Quoted  by  Dr.  Dunbar  Ingram  in  his  History 
of  the  Legislative  Union  of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland,  pp.  93,  94. 


I    ') 


i 


T  Tfr 


^^v^^w^f^^^t^m 


itmmmm 


314 


QUESTIONS  OF  THE  DAY. 


"I'^ 


A  ■ 


armies;  the  Indian  Civil  Service  and  the  Indian  office  at  home 
are  lull  of  Irishmen. 

If  the  Irish  n^presentation  in  tlie  House  of  Commons  has 
been  weak  in  character  and  lias  been  disgraced  by  a  stories  of 
adventurers  of  the  Sadleir  type,  this  has  not  been  due  to  any 
unfairness  in  the  terms  of  Union,  nor  is  it  now  good  reason  for 
giving  Ireland  over  to  sucli  hands.     If  Ireland   may  fairly 
complain  that  Parliament  has  sometimes  neglected  her  needs 
to  spend  its  time  in  faction  fights,  England,  Wales,  and  Scot- 
land may  do  the  same,  and  the  remedy  is  the  abolition  of 
l)arty  government,  not  the  erection  of  another  House  of  party. 
If  Parliament  is  overburdened  with  local  matters,  the  remedy 
is  to  throw  off  a  part  of  the  burden  on  local  assemblies  or 
authorities   generally,  not  to  rei)eal  the  union  with  Ireland. 
Ignorance  of  Ireland  has  been  pleaded  by  Mr.  Gladstone  as  an 
account  of  his  change  of  mind,  and  he  may  exteiul  the  plea,  it 
is  believed,  to  Mr.  Morley,  his  reputed  partner  in  the  author- 
ship of  his  Bill.     But  Parliament,  as  a  body,  has  not  been 
uninformed;  it  has  had  a  hundred  Irish  members  to  inform 
it.     To  say  that  British  statesmen  have  not  cared  for  Irish 
questions,  that  the  Irish  problem  has  not  received  their  anx- 
ious, their  painfully  anxious,  attention,   is  most  unjust,  as 
every  one  who  has  lived  among  them  knows. 

Pledged  or  unpledged,  Pitt  desired,  and  did  his  best  to  carry, 
Catholic  Emancipation.  That  he  was  insincere  and  secretly 
counted  on  the  King's  resistance  is  a  vile  calumny,  for  which 
no  shadow  of  proof  has  been  produced.  He  was  baffled  by  tlie 
intrigue  of  Wedderburn  and  the  bishops.  If  he  took  time,  it 
was  only  because  he  wished  to  get  his  Cabinet  perfectly  united 
on  the  question  before  he  approached  the  King.  He  paid  the 
debt  of  honour  by  resignation.  He  afterwards  returned  to 
power  without  insisting  on  Catholic  Emancipation.  But  was 
he  to  leave  the  nation  leaderless  in  extremity,  or  was  he  to 
depose  the  King?  Pitt,  acting  in  tremendous  times,  some- 
times erred.  The  contrast  between  the  brightness  of  the  first 
half  of  his  career  and  the  cloud  which  overhung  the  second 
half  is  one  of  the  saddest  things  in  our  history.     But  he  was 


olRce  at  home 


THE   IRISH   QUKSTION. 


316 


an  upright  Kiiglish  gcMitlcinan;  ho  was  a  sincorfi  h)vor  of  his 
country;  ho  novor  hilt  tlio  path  of  lionour,  practisod  deceit, 
or  uttered  untruth.  Wo  couhl  as  easily  imagines  him  trachie- 
ing  his  country  in  a  foreign  press  as  giving  a  ph-dgo  to  the 
Catholics  and  aecrotly  relying  on  the  King's  bigotry  for  a 
release. 

Catholic  Emancipation,  like  all  domestic  reform  and  im- 
provement, whether  for  Ireland  or  Great  Britain,  was  delayed 
till  the  end  of  tho  mortal  ccmfliet  with  revolutionary  France, 
and  afterwards  with  the  ravening  Empire  to  which  she  had  given 
hirth.  Then  it  came  with  other  lil)eral  measures,  thongh  not 
in  the  best  way,  and  when  by  postponement  it  had  lost  much 
of  its  grace.  There  followed  another  pause,  after  which  came 
the  disestablishment  of  the  State  Church.  In  respect  of 
religious  equality,  Ireland  is  now  in  advance  of  the  other  two 
Kingdoms,  v(n'ifying  in  this  case  Cromwell's  saying  that  she 
offered  a  clean  paper  for  the  trial  of  reforms.  Disestablish- 
mont  might  have  come  earlier  if  some  of  the  Irish  members 
in  the  House  of  Commons  would  have  devoted  their  attention 
to  justice  for  Ireland  instead  of  devoting  it  to  the  Galway 
Packet  Contract,  as  for  more  than  one  session  they  did. 
Whatever  pledge  had  been  given,  whatever  expectation  had 
been  hehl  out  to  the  Catholics  at  the  time  of  the  Union,  was 
now  virtually  fulfilled.  The  compact,  if  compact  the  deed 
could  be  called  which  was  written  with  the  finger  of  necessity, 
was  now  perfectly  made  good,  and  the  last  stain  of  moral 
invalidity  was  removed. 

Ireland  also  received  from  the  Imperial  Parliament  a  system 
of  national  education  which  the  priests,  saving  a  few  Liber- 
als, such  as  Moriarty,  opposed,  and  which,  if  Home  Rule  were 
granted,  the  priests  would  to-morrow  overturn.  Nor  can  it 
be  truly  alleged  that  the  Irish  since  the  Union  have  been  sub- 
ject to  social  disparagement  in  the  sliglitest  degree,  whatever 
discredit  may  have  been  brought  upon  them  in  former  days 
by  Irish  lieiress-hunters  and  adventurers.  To  say  that  they 
have  been  treated  witli  more  studied  contumely  than  the 
negro  in  the  United  States  is  the  very  delirium  of  calumny. 


I 


}. 


1 


i 


1'       '' 

il  ' 

1  i 

316 


QUESTIONS   OF   THE   DAY. 


If  men  behave  as  Irish  niembevs  behave  in  the  House  of  Com- 
mons, they  will  draw  odium  on  themselves  and  tliose  who 
sent  them  there.  Otherwise,  the  peculiarities  of  Irish  charac- 
ter, like  those  of  English  or  Scotch  character,  may  have  been 
objects  of  harmless  jest,  objects  of  hatred  they  have  never 
been.  There  are  no  better  mirrors  of  public  sentiment  than 
the  public  schools  and  the  universities;  let  any  one  who  has 
been  at  them  say  whether  he  ever  knew  an  Irish  youth  in- 
sulted or  ill-treated  on  account  of  his  place  of  birth. 

About  thirty  years  ago  the  writer,  during  a  summer  spent 
in  Ireland,  enjoyed  the  intimate  converse  of  some  of  tlie  best 
Irish  patriots  and  Liberals.  These  men  were  staunch  Union- 
ists, and  would  never  hear  of  any  paltering  with  that  question. 
They  saw  the  necessity  of  social  and  economical  reforms,  but 
the  only  political  grievances,  so  far  as  the  writer  remembers, 
of  Avhich  they  complained  in  connection  with  the  Union,  were 
the  necessity  of  going  to  Westminster  for  private  bill  legis- 
lation and  that  of  carrying  appeals  to  the  House  of  Lords, 
both  processes  being  troublesome  and  expensive.  The  first 
grievance  might  be  removed  by  allowing  Irish  committees  of 
the  two  Houses  of  Parliament  for  private  bills  to  sit  in  the 
vacation  at  Dublin,  and  to  report  to  Westminster.  The  second 
might  be  mitigated  by  the  institution  of  a  delegate  court, 
though  the  unity  of  the  Supreme  Court  could  not  be  broken 
without  breaking  the  unity  of  law.  A  capital  grievance  is 
now  made  of  the  Vice-Royalty,  or  Castle  government  as  it  is 
styled,  which  is  dubbed  an  Austrian  Satrapy.  The  Vice- 
Royalty  is,  no  doubt,  a  relic  of  dependence.  In  1850,  a  bill 
for  its  abolition  passed  the  House  of  Commons  by  an  over- 
whelming majority,  and  was  dropped  in  deference  to  protests 
from  Ireland. 

Whatever  may  have  been  the  shortcomings  of  Parliament 
in  legislating  for  Ireland  between  the  Union  and  this  out- 
break, it  may  safely  be  said  that  the  spirit  of  legislation  has 
been  just.  The  measures,  so  far  as  their  intention  has  been 
fulfilled,  have  always  made  for  justice.  To  treat  Ireland  with 
kindness  and  indemnify  her  for  sufferings  past,  has  been  the 


THE   IRISH   QUESTION. 


317 


general  desire  of  the  English  people.  Foreign  statesmen,  as 
impartial  observers,  have  seen  this.  Guizot,  though  an  ad- 
mirer and  student  of  English  institutions,  was  not  an  Anglo- 
maniac,  and  as  Prime  Minister  of  France  lie  had  quarrelled 
more  than  once  Avith  British  governments.  It  was  about  1865, 
before  the  disestablishment  of  the  Irish  Church,  that  he  was 
heard  to  say  that  the  conduct  of  England  towards  Ireland  for 
the  last  thirty  years  had  been  admirable.  He  was  reminded 
that  to  do  Ireland  complete  justice,  disestablisliment  was  still 
required.  He  assented,  but  at  the  same  time  emphatically 
repeated  his  encomium.  Tliis  may  be  contrasted  with  the 
language  of  American-Irish  (conventions,  which  charge  the 
British  Parliament  with  organising  famine  in  Ireland  to  de- 
stroy the  people  whom  it  has  not  been  able  to  extirpate  with 
the  sword. 

Coercion  Bills;  alas!  there  have  been  many,  but  they  have 
been  generally  agrarian,  not  political.  It  cannot  be  said  that 
for  agrarian  outrage  they  iiave  not  been  needful.  Govern- 
ment cannot  abdicate  its  primary  functions,  nor  can  a  country 
be  left  to  savage  and  murderous  lawlessness,  though  the  law 
may  require  change.  When  for  giving  unpopular  evidence  a 
man  and  his  family  of  seven  were  burned  alive  in  their  liouse, 
and  outrages  of  this  kind  were  protected  by  conspiracy,  when 
a  farmer  for  defending  his  house  against  nightly  ruffians  was 
shot  at  the  chapel  door  in  the  presence  of  hundreds,  who  con- 
nived at  the  murder,  strong  measures  could  hardly  be  avoided 
if  civilisation  Avas  to  be  saved.  Most  European  governments 
would  have  declared  martial  law.  That  of  Italy,  which  is 
liberal  enough,  represses  agrarian  conspiracy  by  armed  force. 
The  number  of  the  Coercion  Bills,  though  it  sounds  appalling* 
IS  really  a  proof  of  the  constant  effort  to  do  without  coercion 
and  go  back  to  the  ordinary  course  of  law. 

Since  the  Union,  not  only  has  there  been  no  civil  war  or 
serious  conflict  between  the  races  and  religions  in  Ireland, 
but  there  has  been  no  political  rebellion  or  revolutionary 
movement  of  the  slightest  force.  O'Connell's  repeal  agitation 
took  no  hold,  and  at  last  degenerated  into  a  protracted  farce 


[,■ 


■Mi 


e^i, 


■( 


i  •  1 


il 


iiii!  • 

II  Wfih' 


'  '  i: 


318 


QUESTIONS  OF  THE   DAY. 


or  an  excuse  for  levying  O'Connell's  "rent"  upon  the  people. 
Smith  O'Brien's  insurrection,  in  1848,  though  the  air  of 
Europe  was  charged  with  revolution,  ended  in  ridicule  and  a 
cabbage  garden.  Other  political  conspiracies  have  flashed  in 
the  pan.  This  last,  it  seems,  had  its  origin,  not  among  Irish 
patriots,  but  among  Irishmen  of  the  Anglican  Church,  who 
resented  disestablislnnent,  so  that  it  may  be  regarded  as  the 
last  service  rendered  by  a  State  Church  to  the  State. 

The  commercial  grievances  Avhich  existed  before  the  Union 
have  been  Avholly  swept  away.  Great  Britain  has  opened  for 
Irish  produce  the  best  market  in  tlie  world.  She  has  given 
employment  in  her  manufacturing  cities  to  hundreds  of  thou- 
sands of  Irish  who  would  have  starved  on  their  own  soil. 
Her  capital  would  open  up  Irish  resources  if  it  were  allowed, 
and  the  capitalists  were  sure  of  receiving  dividends  in  money, 
not  in  bullets. 

Whatever  appearance  of  strength  political  disaffection  has 
shown  has  been  derived  from  agrarian  discontent.  This  is 
emphatically  true  of  the  present  rebellion.  It  cannot  be 
doubted  that  the  agrarian  question  in  Ireland  (tailed  for  legis- 
lative interposition.  From  causes  already  mentioned,  the 
manorial  system  had  there  failed.  Absenteeism  was  only  part 
of  the  evil,  and  some  of  the  estates  of  absentees  were  very  well 
and  liberally  managed,  though  to  the  Irishman,  of  all  men, 
nothing  can  make  up  for  the  absence  of  his  social  chief.  The 
root  of  the  mischief  lay  not  so  much  in  the  system  of  tenure 
as  in  the  swarming  of  the  people,  under  a  Church  which 
practically  discourages  economy,  over  a  soil  unfit  for  grain, 
and  on  which  they  could  be  maintained  only  by  the  treacherous 
potato.  Rents  were  raised  to  an  excessive  amount  by  the 
desperate  bidding  of  the  people  against  each  other  for  the  land 
which  was  their  sole  means  of  subsistence.  There  would  be 
distress  from  over-population  in  the  Roman  Catholic  Province 
of  Quebec  as  there  is  in  Roman  Catholic  Ireland,  were  there 
not  a  ready  outlet  into  the  United  States.  Unless  thrift  could 
be  given  to  the  Irish  peasant  with  security  of  tenure,  he  would 
soon  be  in  the  hands  of  the  money-lender,  who  neither  resides 


!iin 


I 


THE   IRISH   QUESTION. 


319 


nor  remits,  and  the  more  money-lenders  were  sliot  the  higher 
interest  woukl  be.     Tlie  Church,  too,  would  probably  lay^'lier 
hands  on  a  large  jjart  of  that  which  the  landlord  had  resigned. 
Those  who  write  most  sympathetically  on  Irish  sorrow,  iAhey 
write  at  all  fairly,  do  not  omit  to  mention  the  indisposition  of 
the  Irish  peasant  to  steady  labour;  and  the  defect,  whether 
inborn  or  produced  by  long  discouragement,  is  now  too  prob- 
ably ingrained  and  cannot  fail   to  tell.     Still,  Irish  tenure 
called  for  reform.     Possibly,  it  may  have  been  necessary  to 
provide  for  the  general  abolition  of  the  dual  ownership.     But 
this  should  have  been  done  by  the  hand  of  deliberate  caution 
and  impartial  justice,  not  by  lawless  violence,  class  passion, 
and  the  unscrupulous  malignity  of  faction.     As  it  is,  faith  in 
contracts,  the  foundation  of  commerce  and  almost  of  civilisa- 
tion, has  been  seriously  shaken  in  the  process,  and  property 
has  been  made  generally  insecure.     Purchasers  under  recent 
Acts  of  Parliament,  such  as  the  Encumbered  Estates  Act,  even 
purchasers  from  the  State  under  the  Disestablishment  Act, 
are  despoiled  or  marked  for  spoliation  without  compunction' 
or  rather  with  insolent  delight.     Mr.  Gladstone  and  his  col- 
leagues saw  what  morality  and  the  national  honour  required. 
They  showed  this  by  their  first  proposals  on  the  subject,  which 
recognised  the  claim  of  the  landlords  of  Ireland  to  protection 
and  indemnification.     They  appeared  to  think  that  they  could 
draw  the  line  of  "rapine"  at  Ireland;  and  the  factory  lords 
who  voted  with  them  seemed  to  think  that  they  could  draw  the 
line  at  property  in  land. 

In  1847  the  potato  brought  its  periodical  deartli  on  the  most 
frightful  scale.  Great  Britain,  charged  with  organising  famine 
to  extirpate  the  Irish,  did  everything  in  her  power  for  their 
relief.  To  let  in  food  for  Ireland,  the  fiscal  system  was  sus- 
pended and  the  ports  were  thrown  open,  which  O'Connell  had 
said  only  an  Irish  Parliament  would  do.  The  present  leader 
of  the  Irish  party  in  the  House  of  Commons  has  borne  witness 
as  a  historian  to  the  good-will  and  g(!nerosity  shown  on  that 
occasion  by  the  English  people. 

There  was,  nevertheless,  a  vast  exodus  to  America  and  a 


1' 


I' 


'  '■■'I, 


Ji 


i^'M 


t!i 


V 

1 

'! 

i  1 

V 

I 

320 


QUESTIONS  OF  THE  DAY. 


propo^'tionate  increase  of  Irish  influence,  both  on  the  domestic 
politics  of  the  United  States  and  on  the  rehitions  between  the 
United  States  and  Great  Britain.  What  Irish  influence  on 
American  politics  and  on  the  affairs  of  American  cities  is,  it  is 
needless  to  say.  The  Irish  immigrants,  for  two  generations  at 
least,  do  not  become  American  citizens,  but  remain  Irisli, 
prosecuting  their  clan  fcnid.  They  keep  their  national  or  rebel 
flag,  and  annually  unfiirl  it  in  face  of  American  nationality 
over  tlie  C'ity  Hall  it  New  York.  The  name  it  probably  was 
that  drew  them  into  the  Democratic  party.  Into  that  party, 
at  all  events,  they  went.  They  almost  to  a  man  ^upportcul 
slavery,  notwithstanding  the  generous  protests  of  O'Connell. 
At  the  time  of  the  Civil  War,  rising  at  New  York,  they  mal- 
treated and  butchered  negroes,  till  the  Americans  brought  up 
troops,  and  instead  of  passing  Coercion  IJills  proceeded  to 
quell  murderous  lawlessness  by  summary  execution.  It  may 
safely  be  said  that  on  that  day  twenty  times  as  many  Irish  fell 
as  have  suffered  for  political  offences  since  the  Union.  To 
proclaim  indemnity  for  crime  committed  on  political  pretexts 
would  be  to  put  society  at  the  mercy  of  any  brigand  who  chose 
to  say  that  his  object  in  filling  the  country  with  blood  and 
havoc  was  not  plunder,  but  anarchy  or  usurpation.  Irish 
influence  upon  the  relation  between  the  United  States  and 
Great  Britain  has  given  rise  to  acts  of  political  subserviency 
and  breaches  of  international  comity  on  the  part  of  American 
legislatures,  presidents,  and  statesmen,  of  which  patriotic 
Americans  in  private  own  themselves  ashamed.  British  op- 
ponents of  Irish  domination  are,  in  fact,  labouring  to  redeem 
the  politics  of  both  nations  from  a  noxious  and  humiliating 
yoke.  American  Fenianism  has  reinforced  Irish  Fenianism 
with  rhetorical  vitriol,  and,  what  is  of  more  consequence,  with 
money,  the  large  contributions  of  which,,  being  at  all  events 
for  a  sentimental  object,  would  be  creditable  to  the  race  were 
it  not  pretty  certain  that  they  are  to  a  great  extent  enforced. 
Here  the  danger  from  American  Fenianism  ends.  To  enlist 
the  American  ])eople  in  their  own  clan  feud  and  drive  the 
Republic  into  war  with  Great  Britain  is  the  constant  object  of 


THE  IRISH  QUESTION. 


321 


tlie  American-Irish.  But  the  Americans,  whatever  the  poli- 
ticians may  be  constrained  to  say,  have  no  intention  of  bein'r 
enlisted  in  any  one's  clan  feud,  and  will  never  go  to  war  in  an 
Irish  quarrel.  Nor  will  they  put  up  with  Irish  conspiracy 
beyond  a  certain  point.  A  strong  reaction  was  (iaused  by  the 
murder  of  Dr.  Cronin.  The  Germans  in  the  United  States  are 
fully  as  strong  as  the  Irish.  They  are  Germans  in  feeling 
still,  even  those  of  them  who  were  political  refugees,  as  was 
seen  during  the  Franco-German  war.  And  so  long  as  England 
and  their  mother  country  are  good  friends,  tliey  will  never 
consent  to  a  war  for  Ireland.  The  Prime  Minister  of 
England  who  is  not  asliamed  to  threaten  the  nation  with  the 
vengeance  of  the  Irish-Americans  if  it  will  not  surrender  to 
Home  Eule,  might  spare  himself  that  disgrace  and  the  country 
that  insult. 

To  the  sister  island,    also,    the  famine  drove  many,   and 
the  dreadful  Irish  quarters  of  Liverpool  and  Glasgow  became 
more  crowded  than  before.     Irish  colonisation  of  Groat  Britain, 
while   it  practically  helps         answer   the  charge  of  British 
cruelty  to  Ireland,  is  a  serious  matter  for  England  and  Scotland 
in  a  political,  a  social,  and  an  industrial  point  of  view.     "  Therj 
are  no  Irishmen,"  says  Mr.  T.  P.  O'Connor,  "more  fierce  or 
resolute  in  the  national  faith  than  the  Irishmen  who  settle  in 
England  or  Scotland."     "They  are  far  more  extreme  in  their 
views,"  he  adds,  ''than  the  majority  of  the  Irish  in  America." 
He  depicts  them  as  a  clan  with  a  feeling  of  estrangement  from 
those  around  them.     In  confirmation  of  his  description,  it  may 
be  said  that  not  all  of  those  who,  at  tlie  time  of  the  Pliojnix 
Park  murders,  were  going  about  in  Irish  quarters  of  British 
cities,  saw  reason  to  believe  that,  as  Mr.  O'Connor  says,  the 
blow  struck  in  the  Irish  cause  was  regarded  by  the  whole  Irish 
race  with  unmixed  sorrow.     It  is  by  the  Irish  vote  in  not  a 
few  cases   that   British  constituencies   have  been  turned  in 
favour  of  Home  Eule.     Make  Ireland  independent   xnd  the 
Irishry  in  Great  Britain  will  become  the  outpost  of  a  forel-n, 
probably  of  a  hostile,  power. 
Such,  in  general  outline,  is  the  story.     From  what  part  of  it 


til 


'I 


M 


^22 


QUESTIONS   OF   THE   DAY. 


i!:i  lii  r 


would  any  rcasonablo  and  jiatriotio  man  draw  the  inference 
that  it  wouUl  be  good  for  (rroat  Uritain  and  Ireland,  or  for 
either  of  them,  to  erect  Celtie  and  Catholic  Ireland  into  a 
separate  nation?  Whatever  unity  Ireland  has,  whatever  she 
has  of  constitutional  gov«u-nment,  of  free  institutions,  of  civili- 
sation, has  come  to  luu-  from  hcv  partner  in  the  Union,  tliougli, 
owing  to  unhappy  circumstances  either  of  nature  or  of  history, 
it  has  come  to  her  in  a  cruel  way.  The  past  may  be  deplored; 
undone  it  cannot  be;  by  an  unwise  policy  its  evils  may  he 
reneAved.  We  see  into  what  hands  Ii'cland  would  pass. 
There,  in  the  House  of  Commons,  turning  the  debate  into  a 
brawl,  sits  tlie  Home  Rule  Parliament  of  Ireland.  In  ]\Ir. 
T.  P.  O'Connor's  lively  sketch  of  the  recent  history  of  Irisli 
parties,  it  is  instructive  to  note  the  pervading  assumption  tliat 
the  Irish  politician  who  comes  within  reach  of  corruption  will 
infallibly  be  corrupted.  IVIr.  O'Connor  describes  to  us  the  way 
in  which,  under  the  "  Lil)erator, "  O'Connell,  the  system  was 
worked.  "  A  profligate  landlord,  or  an  aspiring  but  briefl(!ss 
barrister,  was  elected  for  an  Irish  constituency  as  a  follower 
of  the  popular  leader  of  the  day  and  as  the  mouthpiece  of  his 
principles.  When  he  entered  the  House  of  Commons  he  soon 
gave  it  to  be  understood  by  the  distributors  of  State  patronage 
that  he  was  open  to  a  bargain.  The  time  came  when  in  the 
party  divisions  his  vote  was  of  consequence,  and  the  bargain 
was  then  struck,  the  vote  from  him  and  the  ofhce  from  them." 
Under  the  auspices  of  the  Repeal  Association  there  was 
returned,  Mr.  T.  T.  O'Connor  says,  "  instead  of  seventy  inde- 
pendent and  honest  Irish  representatives,  a  motley  gang  of  as 
disreputable  and  needy  adventurers  as  ever  trafficked  in  the 
blood  and  tears  of  a  nation."  As  it  was  in  O'Connell's  time, 
so,  according  to  the  same  authority,  it  continued  to  be  after- 
wards. *'  Since  the  break-up  of  the  Butt  party,  a  number  of 
his  most  prominent  followers  have  accepted  office,  and  the  few 
that  still  retain  places  in  the  House  of  Commons  have,  with 
scarcely  an  exception,  gone  over  to  the  Liberal  party,  and  are 
notoriously  as  open  to  employment  as  the  cabbies  in  Palace 
yard."     Let  him  who  accuses  us  of  treating  Irish  politicians 


THE   IllISII   QUESTION. 


328 


with  disrespect  see  what  estimate  is  formed  of  them  by  their 
own  kin.  In  the  Gal  way  case  Mr.  Parnell,  in  forcing  Mr. 
O'Sliea  on  tlie  eh'ctorate,  gave  us  a  measure  of  the  indej)en- 
dence  of  Irish  constituencies.  What  sort  of  security  would 
there  be  against  the  api)earance  of  a  series  of  Sadleirs  and 
Keoghs  in  a  TarlianuMit  at  Dublin?  These  battl(is  of  Parnidl- 
ites  and  Anti-Panudlites  over  the  money-bag  of  the  agitation, 
do  they  not  show  us  what  is  to  be  expected  in  the  way  of 
disinterestedness  as  well  as  of  concord? 

At  first  tlie  priest  will  probably  share  the  power  and  the 
spoil  with  the  patriot.  There  is  no  use  in  saying  that  the 
lioman  Catholic  Church  would  not  do  what  it  is  a  necessity  of 
its  nature  to  do,  what  it  tells  you  plainly  in  the  Syllabus  and 
Encyclical  that  it  claims  a  right  to  do,  and  what  it  has  every- 
where done  to  the  full  extent  of  its  power.  It  would  begin  by 
l)utting  an  end  to  the  popular  system  of  education  which  the 
United  Parliament  has  established,  or  turning  the  common 
schools  into  organs  of  ecclesiasticism  and  their  teaching  into  a 
preparation  for  the  first  connnunion,  as  it  has  done  in  Quebec. 
It  would  proceed  formally  or  informally  to  establish  itself, 
and  in  so  doing  it  need  fear  no  opposition  from  Gladstonian 
Liberals,  who  are  fain  to  palliate  its  tyrannical  action  in  the 
elections  and  to  uphold  the  sinister  rule  wliich  enables  the 
priest  to  oversee  and  dictate  the  illiterate  vote.  Small,  to 
judge  from  all  experience  and  from  such  an  analogy  as  that  of 
priestly  rule  in  Quebec,  would  be  the  modicum  of  political 
freedom  which  the  peasant  would  l)e  allowed  by  his  Church  to 
enjoy  when  the  last  legal  safeguard  was  withdrawn.  In  time, 
perhaps  pretty  soon,  a  rupture  would  come  between  the  priest 
party  and  that  revolutionary  party  to  wliich  the  more  thorough- 
going Fenians  both  in  Ireland  and  Anun-ica  belong,  and  which 
is  affiliated  to  the  revolutionary  ])arty  in  Europe.  The  torch 
of  intestine  discord  would  then  be  kindled  once  more.  Be- 
tween the  two  islands  the  relations  could  not  fail  to  be  hostile, 
when  Ireland  was  a  separate  nation,  owing  her  existence  to 
successful  rebellion,  and  setting  out  with  bitter  hatred  in  her 
soul.     Let  people  who  talk  sentimentally  about  a  union  of 


:  i 


I 


I 


li'f 


■['I 


i  i 


«t  I  ^ 


I  ' 


324 


QUESTIONS  OF  THE   DAY. 


hearts,  instead  of  listening  to  tlio  voice  in  Ireland,  subdued  to 
the  tones  of  a  sucking  dove  while  tlie  work  of  disunion  is  beiu" 
done,  listen  to  the  genuine  accents  of  Ciiicago,  or  let  theiii 
look  into  the  graphic  pages  of  Mr.  T.  V.  O'Connor,  scan  the 
portraits  of  the  Parnellite  leaders  painted  there,  and  draw 
their  inference  as  to  tlie  direction  which  such  men  would  give 
Irish  sentiment  and  policy  towards  Cireat  Britain  when  they 
had  an  Irish  Parliament  in  their  hands.  A  British  Premier 
and  his  colleagues  say  that  they  are  proud  to  owe  tlieir  places 
to  the  Irish  disunionists.  Are  they  erjually  proud  of  their 
connection  with  tlie  American  Clan-na-Gael,  bellowing  war  and 
dynamite  against  their  country?  Are  they  proud  of  being 
helped  on  as  they  have  been  in  elections  by  funds  subscribed 
to  a  foreign  organisation  formed  by  murderous  enmity  to  Great 
Britain  ? 

To  a  moral  certainty,  Ireland  would  become  a  thorn  in  the 
side  of  Great  Britain.  To  sustain  herself  against  her  powerful 
neighbour,  she  would  attach  herself  to  some  foreign  enemy  of 
Englaiul,  as  the  tribes  attached  themselves  to  Spain  in  the 
sixteenth  century,  and  as  Scotland  attached  herself  to  France 
before  the  Union.  This  Great  Britain  could  not  and  would 
not  endure.  Ireland  would  be  reconquered  and  the  circle  of 
woe  would  revolve  again. 

The  effect  on  Irish  prosperity  of  a  patriot  and  priestly 
government  is  not  hard  to  foretell.  Capital  would  fly  tlie 
island;  employment  would  fall  off.  There  would  be  another 
exodus,  and  the  Britisli  artisan  who  votes  and  shouts  for  dis- 
memberment would  pay  the  penalty  in  an  increased  measure 
of  the  most  depressing  of  all  competition,  unless  he  should 
insist  on  immigration  laws,  in  Avhich  case  misery  would  abouiiJ 
in  Ireland.  When  this  rebellion  broke  out  Ireland  was  doing 
well,  commerce  was  improving,  the  deposits  in  the  savings  banks 
had  increased,  and  pauperism  had  been  greatly  diminished. 

There  is  no  reason  for  believing  that  the  mass  of  the  Irish 
people  want  a  separate  Parliament.  ISTobody  who  knew  them 
well  ever  said  that  their  aspirations  were  political.  It  was 
the    land    that   they    wanted,    and  they  were  Home  Kulers 


THE   1U181I  C^UESTION. 


326 


because  they  were  told  tliat  a  Home  Rule  Parliament  would 
give  them  the  hind.  Tlwy  sliowed  scarcely  a  spark  of  resent- 
ment when  the  Home  Jlule  Uill  was  thrown  out  in  the  House 
of  Lords.  With  great  difficulty,  generous  as  they  are  by  nature, 
have  they  been  made  to  subscribe  to  tlie  movement,  leaving  the 
burden  to  be  mainly  borne  by  their  American  friends.  It  is 
probable  tliat  most  of  them  would  be  glad  to  be  under  a  strong 
and  just  government,  enjoying  their  improved  lioldings  in 
peace.  Tliey  are  wanting  in  political  hidependence,  and 
through  the  whole  course  of  these  events  have  been  com- 
pletely under  the  control  of  the  terrorist  organisations  or  the 
priests.  If  it  could  be  said  with  regard  to  the  Union  that  the 
compact  was  morally  invalid  because  it  had  been  made  by 
force,  not  less  may  it  be  said  with  regard  to  Home  Kule  that 
the  compact  would  be  morally  invalid  as  having  been  made 
under  lawless  coercion. 

With  respect  to  the  case  of  Ulster,  all  that  need  be  said 
more  is  that  we  shall  only  get  what  we  deserve  if  the  noble 
province,  thrust  by  us  in  spite  of  her  passionate  appeals  to  our 
good  faith  out  of  the  nationality  to  which  she  belongs,  and 
forced  to  accept  the  yoke  of  all  that  she  most  abhors,  instead 
of  our  best  and  firmest  friend  should  become  our  bitterest 
enemy.     Nor  is  this  unlikely  to  be  the  result. 

It  is  needless  again  to  discuss  Mr.  Gladstone's  Bill.  It  was 
torn  to  pieces  by  Lord  Selborne  in  the  Lords'  debate,  while 
the  ministers  in  charge  of  it  could  reply  only  by  vague  asser- 
tions that  in  spite  of  probabilities  all  would  turn  out  well, 
or  with  a  levity,  Avhich  showed  in  wliat  spirit,  sure  of  a 
mechanical  majority,  they  were  dealing  with  the  fundamental 
institutions  of  the  country.  Tlie  measure  is  a  hopeless  jumble 
of  the  National,  Imperial,  Federal,  and  Colonial  systems. 
Nobody  imagines  that  it  could  work,  or  that  it  is  in  truth  any- 
thing but  a  complicated  mask  for  the  surrender  of  Ireland  to 
the  rebellion.  Mr.  Redmond  feels  sure  enough  of  the  sub- 
serviency of  the  government,  the  life  of  which  is  practically 
in  his  hands,  to  proclaim  openly  that  the  measure  is  not  final; 
in  other  words,  that  the  end  is  to  be  complete  independence, 


fi:    : 


In 


i    i 


I  :  '"i 


t  ! 


MP 


32(J 


QUESTIONS  OF  TlIK    DaV. 


I   *■ 


'  ! 


IWI'i^l 


r  i 


rW:\ 


\n  ; 


or,  as  Mr.  I'iirncll  said,  ''tlw.  soveronco  of  the  lust  link  which 
binds  Irohmd  to  Chvat  lUitain."  Mr.  I'iirncll  said  this  when 
ho  cliose  to  speak  the  trnth,  and  if  ho  aitorwards  distdainied 
the  statement,  we  know  from  his  own  lips  what  iiis  disclaimei 
was  worth.'  On  tlii!  morrow  of  Home  Kule  the  Union  .Jack 
will  be  hauled  down  over  Ireland,  tiie  rebel  GrecMi  will  take 
its  place,  and  the  last  Lord- lieutenant,  if  he  is  a  Gladstoniaii, 
will  huMd)ly  lend  a  hand  on  the  occasion.  Mr.  Gladstone's 
Lord-Lieutenant  did  in  fact  move  joyously  throujrh  J^ubliii 
with  green  Hags  all  around  liini,  wliilt!  no  Hritish  flag  but  that 
of  his  own  escort  was  seen.  *'  If  any  man  attempts  to  haul 
down  the  American  flag,  shoot  him  on  tlie  spotj  "  so  said  the 
Unionist  G<uieral  Dix  at  the  time  of  Secession.  Americans 
remember  th(!  day. 

Under  the  J'arliamentary  system,  if  tlun-e  are  two  Parlia- 
ments, there  are  two  nations.     The  Crown  is  called,  iionieally 
as  it  may  be  supposed,  the  gulden  link.     A  golden  link  with 
a  vengeance  it  was  in  the  days  before  the  Union.     But  it  has 
now  no  mass  of  patronage,  no  bribery  fuiul,  no   nomination 
boroughs  in  Ireland.     Had  the  government  meant  to  preserve 
the  Union,  it  would  liave  welcomed,  instead  of  repelling,  as 
It  did,  amendments  distinctly  asserting  tlie  supremacy  of  tlie 
Imperial  over  the  Irish  l»ai'liament.     In  order  to  mak(^  sure 
that   the  ostensible  safeguards  shall  nut  be  r(>al,  and  at  tlie 
same  time  to  keep  the  British  party  of  surrender  in  power, 
Ireland  is,  besides  a  Parliament  of  her  own,  to  have  a  garri- 
son of  eighty  Irish  members  in  the  Parliament  of  Great  Brit- 
ain.    The  affected  indifference  of  the  government  about  this 
part  of  their  measure  only  betrayed  the  depth  of  the  design. 
Was  such  a  cup  of  shame  ever  put  to  tlie  lips  of  a  great  nation? 
If  England  needs  to  be  disciplined  for  her  rejection  of  a  politi- 
cal Messiah,  this  measure  does  it  with  a  vengeance.     Neither 
in  America  nor   elsewhere   has   she  an  enemy  who  does  not 
watch  its  progress  with  delight.     To  have  voted  for  it,  if  the 

1  See  the  evidence  of  Mr.  Parnell  before  the  Special  Commission,  May 
3,  1880:  liepnrt  of  the  Procerdings  before  the  Cmmissioners,  reprinted 
from  The  Times,  Vol.  II.,  pp.  798,  799. 


I 


THE  I  Ills  II  (QUESTION. 


327 


nation  ever  recovers  its  sense  and  spirit,  will  be  a  brand.  No- 
toriously of  those  who  voted  lor  it  many  siioke  in  private 
agjvinst  it.  They  trusted  to  th»!  Lords  to  throvv  it  out.  These 
sanu!  iiKiUwill  lunvMiourt  popularity  by  swelling'  the  cry  aj^ainst 
the  Lords.  Then  perh;i,ps  tht!y  will  read  homilies  ou  the 
knavery  of  American  [)olitieiaiis. 

It  is  needless  to  discuss  again  the  false,  and  for  the  most 
])art  absurd,  analogies  which  have  been  adduced  to  lure  the 
liritish  people  into  dismcnd)erment:  that  of  Iceland,  a  petty 
community  a  thousand  miles  from  Denmark;  that  of  Canada, 
a  colony  tliree  thousand  miles  off,  and  virtually  indopcnilent; 
tl'.at  of  th(!  S(!:uulinavian  Kingdoms,  whoso  union  is  not  home 
rule  but  federation,  and  is,  moreov(!r,  going  to  pieces  before 
our  eyes;  that  of  Germany,  which  again  is  a  confederation 
teiuling  probably  towards  a  closer  national  unity;  or  the  un- 
easy but  co-etpial  wedlock  of  Austria  and  Hungary,  which 
presents  no  point  of  real  resend)lance,  ]iistori(!al,  ethnologi- 
cal, or  structural,  to  the  measure  |)roposed  for  Indand.  These 
analogies  have  not  much  figured  in  recent  debates.  Nor  can 
anybody  imagiiuj  that  the  position  of  States  in  a  federation 
such  as  the  States  of  the  American  Union  or  the  Provinces  of 
Canada,  each  with  its  own  local  government  on  the  same  foot- 
ing and  all  sharing  alike  in  the  federal  government,  bears  any 
resemblance  to  that  of  a  vassal  State  such  as  Ireland  would  be 
made  by  the  Home  Rule  Bill.  Tlie  only  real  analogies  are 
those  of  vassal  Parliaments,  and  these  all  point  distinctly  the 
same  way.  Alike  in  Ireland  before  the  Union,  in  the  Ameri- 
can Colonies,  and  in  Canada,  tlie  institution  of  a  vassal  Par- 
liament, by  the  aspirations  which  it  excited  and  the  friction 
which  it  induced,  gave  birtli  to  a  struggle  for  complete  inde- 
pendence, which  in  the  case  of  the  American  Colonies  ended 
with  the  Revolution,  and  in  the  case  of  Canada  with  a  twofold 
rebellion.  The  Irish  politicians  who  will  be  the  leaders  of 
tue  Parliament  at  Dublin,  have  all,  according  to  an  admiring 
(chronicler,  been  distinguished  by  their  burning  hatred  of  Brit- 
ish rule,  as  well  as  by  what  he  would  style  the  fervour,  and 
others  might  style  the  venomous  violence,  of  their  patriotism. 


328 


QUKSTIONS   OF  THE  DAY. 


m 


miM 


1.;  ; 


m-'-^  \   I 


Is  it  likely  tliat  tlioir  hatred  of  liiitish  rule  would  become  love 
or  even  toleration  of  Uritish  snprcniaeyy 

If  there  is  any  other  analogy  really  in  point,  it  is  that  of 
the  Protestant  minority  under  the  rule  of  a  llonian  Catholic 
majority  in  the  Province  of  Quebec.  The  domination  of  the 
priesthood  there  is  controlled  by  the  inHu(Mice  of  a  Protestant 
confederation.  V(!t  there  is  enough  to  teach  Ulster  wliat  her 
doom  under  Home  Rule  would  bi',  and  liow  the  Exehe(pu!r  of  a 
Catholic  Parliament  would  be  likely  to  deal  with  the  strong- 
box of  Belfast. 

It  is  not  Ulst(!r  or  Protestantism  alone  that  desires  the 
preservation  of  the  Union,  but  almost  the  entire  wealth  and 
intelligence  of  Indand,  whether  Protestant  or  Catholic. 
American  enemies  of  (Ireat  JSritain,  while  they  abet  Mr.  CJlad- 
stone's  policy,  admit  that  he  has  hardly  a  su})porter  among 
the  classes  in  which,  if  education  and  responsibility  are  essen- 
tial to  political  wisdom,  the  political  wisdom  of  Ireland  must 
reside. 

To  turn  the  Uniti'd  Kingdom  into  a  confederation  is  possi- 
ble if  you  will  begin  by  restoring  the  divisions  of  the  Hep- 
tarchy together  with  the  contemporary  divisions  of  Scotland, 
Wales,  and  Ireland.  You  will  then  have  the  material  for  a 
confedevation,  which  is  a  large  group  of  tolerably  eriual  States. 
A  federation  of  England,  Scotland,  Wales,  and  Ii'(dand  would 
be  an  everlasting  cabal  of  the  three  lesser  States  against  the 
greater.  To  tlie  reconstruction  of  the  United  Kingdom  on 
the  federal  system  the  only  objection  is  that  the  nation,  and 
still  more  certainly  the  Emi)ire,  would  go  to  pieces  in  the 
process.  It  is  singular  that  this  passion  for  federation  should 
have  seized  on  England,  just  as  in  the  classic  land  of  the  sys- 
tem the  opposite  principle  has  gained  the  ascendant;  for  in 
the  United  States,  thanks  to  railroads  and  other  unifying 
influences,  together  with  the  sentiment  bred  of  the  War  of 
Secession,  nationality  has  been  prevailing  over  State  right, 
and  the  unification  of  the  laws  of  commerce  and  marriage  is 


in  the  air.     Switzerland  has  moved  in  the  same  way. 
only  Great  Britain  that  is  in  love  witli  dissolution. 


It  is 


TIIK    IKISII   QUESTION. 


320 


The  Homo  Jlulo  Hill  was  carriijd  through  tho  Uinm\  of  Com- 
mons by  tlu!  hel[)  ol"  twtMity-threo  Irish  vot(!.s,  to  which,  hy 
tho  mlmissioii  of  tho  author  of  tho  Dill  itself,  Ireland  had  no 
title.  Then  it  was  to  be  palmed  upon  tho  oountry,  whioh  is 
known  to  bo  averse  to  it,  by  uniting  with  it  a  number  of  inoon- 
diary  proposals,  and  carrying  tho  whole  lump  by  moans  of 
api)eals  to  class  passions,  local  antipathies,  and  tho  lure  of 
socialistic  conHseation. 

To  carry  Home  Rule  an  ajipeal  has  been  made,  not  without 
success,  to  the  separatist  spirit  in  Scotland  and  Wales  as  well 
as  in  Ireland,  and  tires  of  provincial  hatred  which  slumbered 
biiuoath  tho  ashes  of  centuries  have  been  raked  anew.  A 
Scotcli  member  of  Parliament  s{)eaks  of  English  influence  as 
"foreign," and  tiie  gov(!rnment  was,  under  Mr.  Gladstone,  and 
is,  under  his  successor,  animated  by  something  like  hostility 
to  England.  Hcotland  and  Wales  have  long  been  in  a  state 
of  social,  economical,  and  intellectual  fusion  with  England, 
the  only  exception  being,  perhaps,  tho  secluded  parts  of  Wales, 
which  are  cut  off  by  the  lingering  of  the  Celtic  language  from 
the  geiKu-al  life  and  progress.  Scotland  was  wafted  by  the 
Union  from  poverty  to  comparative  vv-ealth;  she  owed  to  it 
l)arliameutary  government,  her  own  parliamentary  institutions 
having  proved  almost  abortive;  and  she  owed  to  it  internal 
union,  for  the  Lowlands  were  not  strong  enough  to  subdue  and 
incorporate  the  Highlands.  Both  Scotland  and  Wales  have 
liad  their  full  share  of  all  the  advantages,  emoluments,  and 
honours  of  the  Empire.  What  would  they  bo  as  separate 
nations  with  I<]ngland  interposed  between  them?  Nothing 
that  is  valuable  or  picturesque  in  local  character  need  be  lost 
by  union.  Was  not  AValter  Scott  a  Scotchman  ?  and  was 
he  not  a  Briton?  Civil  war  is  a  dreadful  thing;  but  there  are 
things  even  more  dreadful  than  civil  war.  Submission  to  the 
dismemberment  of  the  nation  by  the  sinister  machinations  of 
a  morally  insane  ambition,  would  in  the  end  work  more  havoc 
tlian  the  civil  sword.  "I  am  prepared,"  said  the  constitu- 
tional and  cautious  I'eel,  "to  make  the  declaration  which  was 
made,  and   nobly   made,  by    my   predecessor,    Lord    Althorp, 


i 


s'l  I: 


io 


I;  ' 

I-    ! 
11       . 


830 


QUESTIONS   OF   THE   DAY. 


that,  deprecating  as  I  do  all  war,  but,  above  all,  civil  war, 
tliere  is  no  alternative  which  I  do  not  think  preferable  to  the 
dismemberment  of  this  Empire." 

To  tliat  dread  arbitrament,  however,  the  Irish  Question  has 
not  yet  come.  The  first  object  of  all  Jiritish  citizens  ouglit  to 
be  to  insist  that  this  Kill,  which  is  not  an  ordinary  law,  or  a 
law  at  all,  but  a  fundamental  change  of  the  national  constitu- 
tion, shall  either  be  frankly  abandoned  or  fairly  submitted  as 
a  single  issue  to  the  constituencies  of  the  United  Kingdom, 
It  is  insufferable  that  the  nation  should  be  kept  in  doubt  as  to 
its  unity  for  the  purposes  of  a  political  game. 


I|.': 


i  MS'; 


•l,il 


1 

f 

1 

t 
■ 

li 


i       i 


PROHIBITION  IN  CANADA  AND  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


'•i :  A 


i  '  i 


B^ 


'    r  ■ 

1 

1 

1  k^M 

!  1 

VH 


PROHIBITION    IN   CANADA  AND   THE 
UNITED   STATES. 

It  is  evident  thiit  Kuglish  politics  are  beginning  to  be  dis- 
turbed, like  those  of  tlie  United  States  and  Canada,  by  the 
formation  of  a  Prohibitionist  piirty.  The  party  \isually  calls 
itself  that  of  Tenipcuance.  Vmt  tliough  we  may  wish  to  be 
courteous,  we  cannot  concede  a  nani(!  wliich  not  only  begs  the 
question  at  issu(!,  but  is  a  standing  libel  on  those  who  take 
their  glass  of  wine  or  beer  without  Ixiing  in  any  rational  sense 
of  the  term  intemperate.  Tem|)(U'ance  is  one  thing,  total 
abstinence  is  another,  ami  coercion,  at  which  these  reformers 
aim,  is  a  third.  As  Temperance  implies  self-restraint,  then, 
can  be  no  Temperance,  in  the  proper  sense  of  the  term,  where 
there  is  coercion. 

The  "Temperance"  people  are  not  usually  inclined  to  listen 
to  anything  so  rationalistic  as  the  lessons  of  experience.  They 
tell  you  that  witli  them  it  is  ;i  matter  not  of  expediency  but  of 
principle;  that  their  cause  is  the  cause  of  ITeaven;  yours,  if 
you  are  an  opponent,  that  of  the  darker  power;  and  they 
intimate,  with  more  or  less  of  gentleness  and  courtesy,  what, 
if  you  persist  in  getting  in  H(>aven's  way,  Avill  be  your  deserved 
and  inevitable  doom.  To  those,  ho\v(!ver,  who  in  practical 
matters  regard  the  dictates  of  experience  as  principles,  and 
who  wish  before  committing  themselves  to  a  particular  kind  of 
legislation  to  know  whether  it  is  likely  to  do  good  or  harm, 
the  result  of  Canadian  or  American  experiment  may  not  be 
uninstructive. 

In  1878  the  Canadian  Parliament  passed  the  Canada  Tem- 
perance Act,  more  commonly  called  the  Scott  Act.  The  pur- 
port of  this  Act  may  be  described  as  county  and  city  option. 

333 


334 


QUESTIONS   OF  THE    DAY. 


rffiij'' 


i  i 


t 


m 


if 

ji 

F'l 

ill     JL' 

.{ 

II 

' 

11 

i 

'  #'ii'  V 


It  enables  any  county  or  (iity  adopting  it  by  a  simple  majority 
of  the  electors  to  proliibit  the  sah;  of  any  liquor  within  the 
district  for  local  consumption  under  penalty  of  a  line  of  fifty 
dollars  for  tlie  first  offence,  a  hundred  for  the  second,  and  two 
months'  imprisonmcnit  for  the  tliird.  When  adopted,  the  Act 
remains  in  force  for  threes  years,  after  which,  upon  a  petition 
signed  by  one-fourth  of  the  electors,  it  may  again  be  submitted 
to  the  vote,  and  if  there  is  a  majority  against  it,  repealed. 

In  the  Province  of  Ontario  there  are  forty-two  counties  and 
eleven  cities.     Twenty-eiglit  counties  and  two  cities  adopted 
the  Act,  most  of  them  in  I.SS4  and  iSHf).     In  18S8  ten  counties 
nine  of  them  at  once,  repealed  it;  and  in  the  following  year 
the  remaining  Scott  Vet  counties  and  cities  also  returned  to 
license  law.     The  majorities  for  repeal  were  overwlielming. 
In  Ontario  the  Scott  Act  is  generally  regarded  as  'mpossiblo 
of  resuscitation,  and  tlic  advocates  of  prohibitive  legislation 
are  turning  their  minds  to  otlier  measures.     This  is  a  genuine 
verdi(!t  of  the  people.     The  liquor-trade  had  exhausted  its 
power  of  opposition  in  tlie  early  part  of  the  contest;  in  fact  it 
hardly  appeared  in  the  field  without  doing  mischief  to  its  own 
cause.      Nor   has   the   verdict    really    been    reversed   by   the 
"  plebiscite  "  recently  taken  in  Ontario.     A  "  plebiscite  "  it  is 
styled,  but  it  is  really  a  mere  collection  of  opinions  without 
legislative  effect  or  the  responsibility  attaching  to  legislative 
effect  which  alone  could  bring  out  the  full  numbers  of  the 
voters  and  give  significance  to  the  vote.     Women,  who  have 
not  the  suffrage,  were  allowed  to  vote.     The  .Provincial  Gov- 
ernment, embarrassed  by  Prohibitionists  in  the  Legislature  and 
menaced  by  the  Prohibitionist  vote  outside,  took  this  mode  of 
getting  out  of  the  difficulty.     Only  fifty-eight  per  cent,  of  the 
vote  was  polled  and  the  n^ajority  for  Prohibition  was  in  the 
rotio  of  19  to  11 .     This  is  hardly  force  enough  to  pass,  much 
.?  3  is  it  force  enough  to  execute  a  sumptuary  law;   for  we 
may  be  sure  that  while  nearly  all  the  Prohibitionists  would 
vote,   the   mass   of  those   who   abstained   from   voting   were 
indifferent  or  adverse.     The  Prime  Minister  of  the  Dominion 
thinks  it  safe  to  meet  the  demand  of  the  Prohibitionists  with 


feti 


PROHIBITION    IN   CANADA   AND  THE   UNITED   STATES.     .3.35 


■1 


a  positive  refusal.  In  a  recent  Ontario  election  not  much  was 
heard  of  Prohibition.  A  Commission  of  Inquiry  lias  been 
sitting  and  when  this  was  written  was  al)out  to  rejjort. 

The  general  result  where  the  Scott  Act  was  tried  appeared 
to  have  been  the  substitution  of  an  unlicensed  and  unregulated 
for  a  licensed  and  regulated  trade.  The  denuind  for  drink 
remained  the  same,  but  it  was  su2)plied  in  illicit  ways.  It  was 
found  by  tliose  wlio  were  engaged  in  the  campaign  against  the 
Scott  A(!t  tliat  the  lowest  class  of  liquor-diialers  were  far  from 
zealous  in  tlieir  opposition  to  proliibitive  legislation.  They 
foresaw  that  tlie  result  to  them  would  be  simply  sale  of  liquor 
without  the  license  fee.  Drunkenness,  instead  of  being  dimin- 
ished, appears  to  have  increased.  A  memorial  signed  by  three 
hundred  citizens  of  Woodstock,  including  nearly  all  the  prin- 
cipal men  of  business  and  professional  men,  but  nobody  con- 
nected with  the  liquor-Lrade,  said:  ''The  Scott  Act  in  this 
tov/n  has  not  diminished  but  has  increased  drunkenness;  it  has 
almost  wholly  prevented  the  use  of  lager  beer,  which  was 
becoming  an  article  of  common  consumption;  it  has  operated 
to  discourage  the  use  of  light  beverages,  substituting  therefor 
in  a  large  measure  ardent  spirits,  and  it  has  led  to  the  opening 
of  numy  drinking-places  which  did  not  exist  under  the  license 
law,  and  to  the  sale  of  liquor  being  continued  till  hours  after 
midnight."  "From  my  own  observation,"  said  a  leading 
physician  of  the  same  place,  "and  the  most  trustworthy 
information  privately  and  publicly  received,  I  am  satisfied 
that  the  most  extensive  illicit  traffic  prevails  in  Woodstock, 
that  the  abuse  of  intoxicating  liquors  is  greatly  on  the  increase 
here,  and  that  there  is  a  lamentable  increase  of  drinking 
among  the  younger  men  of  the  community."  At  Milton,  in 
the  county  of  Halton,  the  effects  were  found  to  be  the  same  as 
at  Woodstock.  Before  the  adoption  of  the  Act  there  were  but 
five  places  in  which  liquor  was  sold;  after  the  adoption  of  the 
Act  there  were  no  fewer  than  sixteen,  and  owing  to  the  perse- 
cution of  the  hotels  the  traffic  was  thrown  into  the  lowest,  and 
worst  hands.  Forty-eight  men  of  business,  including  the 
Mayor  and  Chief  Constable,  signed  a  declaration  that  the  Act 


mi  I 


33d 


QUKSTIONS   OF   THE    DAY. 


I  : 


im 


W  '^"  ^ 


had  signally  failed  l.o  ivdxuw  iiitcMui»i'rancp;  that  the  trado 
instead  ol"  being  in  ivspectablo  hands,  was  in  thoso  of  the 
bottle-hawkers  and  keepers  of  low  dens;  that  the  effect  of  the 
Act  had  been  tlie  substitution  to  a  great  extent  of  spirituous 
li(luors,  for  lualt,  \vin(>,  or  eider  as  beverag(\s;  that  drunken- 
ness, lawlessness,  and  i)erjury  were  much  more  prevalent  than 
tliey  had  been  under  license;  and  that  the  Scott  Act  instead 
of  removing  tenii)tation  from  tlu^  young  had  had  the  contrary 
effect,  and  cases  of  juvenih!  drunkcMiness  had  become  shock- 
ingly frequent.  Scores  of  petitions  were  sent  to  Parliament 
from  county  councils  or  other  municipal  bodies  declaring  the 
failure  of  the  Act. 

Professor  Plaikie  of  Edinburgh  has  been  cited  as  speaking 
of  the  general  elevation  of  moral  tone  in  Toronto,  and  attrib- 
uting it  largely  to  the  control  of  the  liquor  traffic.  This  is 
rempf'iable,  as  Toronto  did  not  adopt  the  Scott  Act.  It  is 
true,  as  the  writer,  after  many  years'  residence  in  Toronto 
gladly  bears  witness,  that  drunkenness  is  seldom  seen  in  her 
streets,  in  her  places  of  amusement,  in  her  excursion  boats 
or  trains,  while  such  intemperance  as  there  is  prevails  chiefly 
among  recent  immigrants.  But  the  credit  is  due  to  spontaneous 
self-control  or  to  the  r.nforced  influences  of  social  opinion, 
religion,  and  medical  authority.  An  attempt  was  made  to 
quicken  improvement  by  withdrawing  at  once  the  licenses  of 
eighty  places  where  liquor  was  sold.  The  result  was  un- 
favourable. Saloon  keepers  Avho  lost  their  licenses  took  to 
contraband  sale,  there  was  an  increase  of  crowding  and  ex- 
citement in  the  houses  whi(;h  remained,  a  spirit  of  defiance 
perhaps  was  roused  by  restraint,  and  an  unusually  intemperate 
Christmas  ensued. 

Wine,  beer,  and  cider  may  or  may  not  be  injurious,  but  at 
all  events  they  are  not  so  injurious  as  ardent  spirits;  they 
stimulate  less  to  criminal  violence,  the  evil  against  which  in 
dealing  with  this  subject,  society  is  most  concerned  to  guard. 
A  natural  tendency  of  Prohibition,  howe^'-er,  as  the  evidence 
cited  seems  to  show,  is  to  substitute  ardcut  spirits,  which,  con- 
taining a  great  amount  of  alcohol  in  a  small  bulk,  are  more 


^%    - 


Il!i 


PUOniniTION   IN  CANADA  AND    I'lli:   TNITHD  STATES.     .".37 

easily  smiipfj^lod,  for  the  lighter  drinks  of  which  the  bulk  is 
greater.  It  is  well  that  tlu;  att(;ntioii  of  philantliropy,  of 
practical  philantliropy  at  least,  should  bo  specially  culled 
to  this  point.  Not  only  does  i'rohibition  appear  practic^iilly 
to  en(!ourage  the  use  of  ardent  spirits ;  the  spirits  which  it 
encourages,  being  sold  by  the  lowest  dealers,  are  apt  to  be  of 
the  most  pernicious  kind;  sometimes  they  an;  literally  poison. 

It  is  tru(!  that  in  some  places  where  Prohibition  ])revails  the 
liquor-shop  no  long(u-  invites  the  passer-by  with  open  doors. 
But  the  illicit  liquor-seller  is  probably  more  atrtive  than  tlie 
licensed  publican  in  thrusting  his  temptation  upon  those  who  are 
most  likely  to  yield  to  it,  especially  on  the  young.  A  clandestine 
drinker  is  sure  to  be  a  deep  driidcer.  He  is  sure  to  driuk,  not 
with  his  meals,  but  in  tlie  /,pecially  pernicious  form  of  drams. 
He  is  sure  to  drink  in  bad  company.  Ho  is  sure  also  to  con- 
tract sneaking  habits,  and  to  lose  respect  for  himself  as  well 
as  respect  for  the  law. 

Witness  after  witness  testifies  to  the  prevalence  of  perjury 
in  liquor-cases,  and  this  evidence  is  supported  by  that  of  judges 
and  magistrates  in  the  United  States  and  England.  The  peo- 
ple were  morally  dragooned  by  a  powerful  organisation  and 
strong  ecclesiastical  influence  into  voting  for  the  Act.  The 
pulpit  of  the  Methodist  Church,  Avhich  is  very  powei-ful  in 
Canada  and  has  thoroughly  identified  itself  Avith  Prohibition, 
thundered  in  favour  of  the  measure,  and  the  Metliodist  farmers 
obeyed.  But  no  pulpit-thunder  will  make  the  people  in  their 
hearts  believe  that  to  drink  or  sell  a  glass  of  beer  is  really 
criminal,  or  support  the  execution  of  the  law  as  if  they  did. 
Archdeacon  Farrar  himself,  in  his  controversy  with  the  late 
Baron  I5raniwell,  repudiates  as  uncharitable  and  absurd  the 
doctrine  that  there  is  anything  morally  wrong  in  the  use  of 
ferntented  liquor.  He  says  that  he  has  never  preached  absti- 
nence as  a  matter  of  duty,  even  to  confirmation  classes  or  to 
national  schools.  He  admits  that  moderate  drinking  is  '.  per- 
fectly lawful  enjoyment,  and  that  multitudes  of  men  indulge 
in  it  who  are  wiser  and  better  than  he  is  himself.  Agreeing 
at  heart  with  this,  the  people,  though  they  have  voted  as  their 


\ 

^1, 

'■  '/ 

1:      - 

1  ■:..', 

\' 

:v.\H 


QlKSriONS   <»K    rilK    DAY. 


pronolior  bado  thoni,  naiinot  hrin;,'  tliomsolvos  to  take  part  in 
niinini;  a  iici-jflibimr,  sciidiiit;  liiiu  to  ;-;a.ol,  a.n:l  pcrliajjs  loaviiicj 
liis  wit'ii  and  (diildrcn  dcstituti!,  for  that  \vlii(di  in  their  iion- 
Kcicncc  they  do  not  regard  as  criminal.  They  rcluse  to  bank 
tlio  ministers  of  the  hiw.  When  forced  to  give  evith'nce  tlicy 
prevaricate  and  too  oi'ten  commit  what  is  morally  perj\iry, 
The  Brnve.  Herald  declared  that  the  Act  in  that  (rounty, 
though  nominally  in  force,  was  "dead  as  Julius  C;esar,"  add- 
ing that  the  idea  that  the  law  would  be  sustained  by  reverence 
for  authority  soon  vanished,  and  that  prosecutions  failed  from 
the  unwillingness  of  witnesses  to  give  evidence  against  the 
hotel-keepers,  who  had  public  sym[)athy  on  their  side,  the  i)eo- 
ple  feeling  that  the  Act  sought  to  destroy  a  business  and  to 
confiscate  property  erected  under  the  sanction  of  previous  law. 
Have  we  not  in  the  history  of  the  poaching  bred  by  tyrannical 
game-laws  and  the  smuggling  bred  by  excessive  customs-duties, 
abundant  proof  of  the  danger  of  putting  the  moral  sense  of  the 
people  at  variance  with  the  law  ?  To  break  the  law  is  always 
wrong,  but  it  is  also  wrong  to  make  laws  which,  as  they  are 
unsupported  by  any  moral  obligation,  the  people  are  sure  to 
break. 

The  testimony  borne  by  municipal  councils  in  all  parts  of 
Ontario  to  the  fact  that  there  was  an  increase  of  drunkenness 
under  the  Act  was  not  invalidated  by  the  decrease,  in  some 
counties,  of  the  number  of  arrests  for  that  orT(Mice.  Under  the 
prohibitive  system  the  liquor-seller,  his  trade  being  illicit,  is 
afraid  to  call,  as  the  licensed  tavern-keeper  does,  for  the  inter- 
vention of  the  police.  He  does  his  best  to  conceal  the  drunk- 
ard whose  detection  would  be  the  betrayal  of  his  own  breach 
of  the  law. 

The  Prohibitionists  themselves  hardly  show  confidence  in 
their  own  moral  code.  They  do  not  propose  to  punish  a  man 
for  drinking  a  glass  of  ale,  though  the  drinking  and  the  sell- 
ing being  parts  of  the  same  transaction,  both  must  be  criminal 
or  neither.  The  framers  of  the  Scott  Act  did  not  even  go  so  far 
as  to  make  the  manufacture  of  liquor  a  crime.  They  con- 
fined themselves  to  harassing  the  retail  trade,  as  though,  so 


rUOIllBiriON  IN  CANADA  AND   I'lIH  r.NITKD  STATKS.    ;W0 


ike  part  in 
ips  loiiviiii; 
tli(Mr  con- 
ise  to  hack 
i(l(Mi('(i  tlicy 
ly  perjury, 
lat  oounty, 
;esar,"  add- 
y  revorcuco 
t'ail(!(l  from 
igainst  tli(^ 
de,  tlic  peo- 
less  and  to 
•ovious  law. 
r  tyrannioal 
:oms-diiti('s, 
sense  of  the 
w  is  always 
as  tliey  are 
are  sure  to 

all  parts  of 
Irunkenncss 
se,  in  some 

Under  the 
iig  illicit,  is 
)r  the  inter- 

the  drunk- 
own  breach 

)nfidence  in 
nish  a  man 
nd  the  sell- 
be  criminal 
ren  go  so  far 
They  con- 
;  though,  so 


long  as  the  drink  was  made,  it  could  fail  to  find  its  way 
through  some  channel  to  tliirsty  lips. 

In  the  Pr()vin(!o  of  (Quebec  the  Scott  Act  has  been  adopted 
by  five  (bounties,  of  wliicdi  two  have  repealed  it.  In  the 
French  province  this  question,  like  all  other  public  questions, 
is  apt  to  become  one  of  race.  In  the  Maritime  Frovinces  the 
Act  has  been  extensively  adopted,  and  only  in  the  cases  of 
two  cities  or  rather  larg(^  towns  and  one  county  has  the  Act 
been  repealed.  But  the  organised  public  oi)p()sition,  indepen- 
dent of  the  liquor-interest,  which  in  Ontario  arrested  the  pro- 
gress of  the  Act  and  turned  back  the  tide,  has  hitherto  been 
wanting  in  the  Maritime  Provinces.  The  people  of  those  Prov- 
inces, moreover,  to  judge  from  their  behaviour  in  the  political 
sphere,  are  peculiarly  submissive  to  pressure  of  the  sort  which 
the  Prohibitionist  party  and  the  clergy  who  support  it  bring 
to  bear.  V>ViX  the  A(!t,  though  not  generally  repealed,  is 
described  as  practically  a  dead  letter  by  provincial  journals, 
which  call  for  its  repeal  ow  that  account. 

The  writer  was  in  tin;  Xorth-West  Territories,  where  the  law 
imposed  by  the  central  government,  under  pressure  of  the  Tem- 
perance vote,  was  Prohibition  qualified  by  a  power  of  giving 
permits  vest(Ml  in  the  Lieutenant-Goveriior.  He  was  assured, 
on  what  a})pear(Hl  to  be  the  best  possible  authority,  tha,t  the 
law  was  a  disastrous  failure,  that  anybody  could  get  liquor 
who  wanted  it,  and  that  the  only  fruits  of  the  system  were 
smuggling,  perjury,  secret  drinking,  and  deterioration  of  the 
liquor.  The  liquor  is  sure  to  be  of  the  worst  quality,  because 
the  dealer  will  thus  indemnify  himself  for  the  risks  of  a  con- 
traband trade,  while  his  own  character  and  that  of  his  drink- 
ing-place  will  inevitably  be  low.  Attention  is  once  more 
called  to  this  feature  of  the  question,  and  to  the  tendency 
of  the  system  which  makes  the  trade  contraband  to  the  dis- 
placement of  the  lighter  drinks  by  ardent  spirits  which  are 
easily  smuggled. 

In  the  Territories  so  bad  were  the  effects  of  the  prohibitory 
law  that  the  Territorial  Legislature  recently  passed  a  License 
T^aw,  which  went  into  effect  in  INFay,  1892.     The  evidence  given 


;!»() 


QI!KSTI<)\S  OK    rilK    DAY. 


wmii' 


I        1  / 


i§i 


m 


t 


\:  ii 


bol'ore  the  Ciuiiidiaii  I'roliihitioii  Coiiiiiiissiun  later  in  that  year 
was  generally  iavomaltle  to  it  eomparetl  with  the  prohihitory 
measure.     Afioiij^st  the  witnesses  were  the  ehiel"  otticers  of  the 
iNorth-West  3I(Mi;ifea  Poliee,  judgt-s,  lawyers,  and  others,  and 
there  was  eoiielusive  testimony  to  the  hirge  amount  of  smug- 
gliiiK  and  to  the?  maiiut'aeture  A'  (hihstt    ous  liiiuors.     One  wit- 
ness testified  that  tiiousaiuls  of  shipnuMits  ol'  liquor  were  made 
into  the  Territory  in  kegs  or  packages  ocjiiceak-d  in  other  goods, 
often  in  a  ear  of  Ivieon  or  ;.  hi!;  of  riee,  sugar,  or  nails.    Often, 
too,  litjuor  eame  in  bottles  of  preserves  or  pickles,  or  canned 
goods  or  temperance  drinks.     Sometiiries  four  hundred  gallons 
of  li(]uor  at  once  were  conveyed  by  teams  hundreds  of  mih-s 
iidand,  and  evaded  the  vigilance  of  the  otHeers.      The  sui)ply 
of   liquor    was    irregular;    a   consignment    was    often    on    its 
arrival  surrounded  by  friends  of  the  consignee,  and  the  whole 
of  it  was  (juickly  consunu'd.     This  led  to  a  great  ainount  of 
drunkenness,  and,  in  the  tk'arth  of  liquor  which  followed,  to 
the  consumption  of  eau  de  Cologne,  pain-killer,  Florida  water, 
esseiices  of  various  kinds,  and  even  red  ink.    A  favourite  punch 
concocted  in  the  Territories  was  pain-killer,  Jamaica  ginger, 
strong  tea,  sugar,  and  nujlassc^s.     These  deleterious  compounds, 
witnesses  swore,  produced  a  number  of  deaths.     'IMieir  effect, 
as  well  as  that  of  some  whiskeys  imported  into  tlu!  Territories 
or  illicitly  manufactured  there,  was  stated  to  be  maddcniing. 
A  judge  said  thai,  of  the  only  two  eases,  among  forty  or  fifty 
criminal  cases,   due  to  tlu;    abuse   of   li(pu)r,  one,    a   case  of 
nuirder,  was  clearly  due  to  a  jjoisonous  compouud  maiuixactured 
by  an  illicit  distiller  wliose  only  appliances  were  some  lead  pipe 
and  some  barh^y.     Tlu^  comjujund  was  the  fruit  o.  Prohibition. 
This  failure  of  Trohibition  is  notable,  for  though  the  country 
has  a  long  frontier,  the  risks  encountered  in  carrying  licpior 
far  into  th*^  interior  were  very  great,  the  Mounted  Police  being 
numerous  and  vigilant,  while  the  question  had  not,  as  in  other 
cases,  become  involved  with  politics. 

Besides  contempt  of  the  law  and  perjury  the  country  ha? 
been  filletl  with  ill  blood.  Xothing  is  more  odious  or  poisons 
the  heart  of  the  community  more  than  the  employment  of 


I'UOIIIBITION  IN  (;ANA1)A  AND   IIIK  IINITKI)  Sl'ATKS.    ;{4l 


ill  tlial,  year 
[jroliihitory 
licurs  ol'  the 
otluu's,  and 
lit  of  siniig- 
.      OlK!  wit- 
woro  made 
ttlier  },'0()(ls, 
lils.     Often, 
,  or  caiuuMi 
li'cd  gallons 
(Is  of  mill's 
The  siipi'Iy 
U'li    on    its 
I  the  wliolc 
iiniount  of 
ollowcjd,  to 
rida  water, 
irite  punch 
ica  ginger, 
ionipounds, 
heir  td'feet, 
Territories 
uaddening. 
•ty  or  fifty 
a   ease  of 
nuiaetured 
e  lead  jjipe 
'rohibition. 
lie  country 
■ing  li(|uor 
oliee  being 
as  in  other 


Duntry  ha? 
or  poisons 
ayment  of 


spies  and  infonnor.s,  to  wliieh  it  lias  been  necessary  and  will 
always  be  necessary  for  I'roliibitionism  to  resort.  Dickens 
liolds  up  tlu^  mirror  to  natiin!  in  his  description  of  tbc^  Clay- 
poles  and  their  trade.  Met'  who  have  been  imprisoned  ami 
ruined  ior  plying  a  tradi!  which  they  run  hardly  feel  to  bo. 
criminal,  as  only  the  other  day  they  were  holding  licMmses  for 
it  from  the  State,  arc;  naturally  not  gratid'ul  for  such  treat- 
ment. Their  vindictiveness  iuul  hatred  of  tlii;  spies  has  led  to 
several  outrages,  and  oucm;  or  twice  to  the  use  of  dyuiimite. 

To  force  the  sentiment  of  the  people  into  accordimcHi  with 
the  lii'v  is  the  nitnr.  diflicnilt,  since  all  tlit!  tinu^  their  Church  is 
holding  up  for  their  imitation  a  model  of  characiter  which  is 
not  "temperate"  in  the  J^"(ihibitionist  sense  of  that  term.  In 
cojnmentiug  on  tlu;  miracle  at  C;uia,  Archdeacon  Farrar  con- 
trasts the  "genial  innocence  of  Cli list's  system"  with  the 
" crushing  asceticism  of  rival  systems."  I Jy  way  of  reconcil- 
ing this  discre])ancy  desj)erate  efforts  avc,  made  to  uphold  the 
astonishing  theory  that  the  ohws  of  the  Gos[)(!l  was  not  fer- 
mented wine  but  syrup.  The  ruler  of  the  feast  at  Cana,  it 
seems,  expressed  his  surprise  that  the  best  syrup  had  not  been 
produced  till  the  guests  had  well  drunk ;  the  accusers  of  Christ 
in  calling  Him  a  winebibber  meant  only  that  lie  was  a  syrup- 
drinker  :  it  was  on  syruj)  that  the  Corinthians  got  drunk  at  the 
celebration  of  tlie  Lord's  Supj)(!r :  Paul  advised  his  friend  to 
take  a  little  syrup  for  his  stomach's  sake  ;  and  the  same  Apostle 
enjoined  the  Church  in  electing  deii'ons  not  to  choose  those 
who  were  given  to  excess  in  syrup !  To  such  palteri'^g  with 
what  every  one  educated  enough  to  be  i  clergyman  mu  know 
to  be  the  truth,  w(!  rather  prefer  the  preacher  who  said  boldly 
that  if  Christ  were  again  to  come  on  earth  and  persisted  in 
celebi  .ting  the  Eucharist  with  wine,  He  would  have  to  be 
excluded  from  His  own  Church.  To  drag  the  Gospel  into  this 
discussion  on  the  Prohibitionist  side  is  hopeless.  There  is  no 
more  of  fanaticism  than  there  is  of  formalism  in  that  volume. 
When  St.  Paul  bids  us  not  drink  wine  if  thereby  our  brother 
is  made  to  stumble,  he  couples  eating  meat  with  drinking  wine, 
showing  that  in  his  opinion  both  in  themselves  are  innocent. 


t'i' 


h\  I 


II 


ii   »  M 


If 


'  niti 


ii 


iji' 


Jliil 


.'142 


QUKSriONS   (»K    TlIK    DAY. 


The  GoHjiol  bids  us  havo  regard  totlie  weakness  of  our  brother; 
but  it  (hn'S  not  bid  our  brotlier  be  weak  or  lis  to  countenunco 
his  weakness  by  unjust  and  unwise  h>gishition. 

The  oflfeet  even  of  h\s3  violent  and  lui/ardous  measures  of 
eoercion  in  Cana(hi  appears  to  have  been  pretty  much  the 
same.  The  supporters  of  the  ISeott  Act  did  not  venture  to 
put  it  to  the  v()t(^  in  Toronto,  but  finding  themselves  powerful 
in  the  City  (Jouiuul,  they  proceeded  to  wage  a  war  ci'  extermi- 
nation on  the  taverns.  At  one  stroke  they  cut  off  seventy-five 
licenses.  They  were  warned  that  this  arbitrary  im;asure, 
while  it  might  ruin  the  tavern-keepers,  would  not  diminish  the 
denumd  for  drink ;  that  while  there  was  a  demand  there  would 
be  a  sui)ply,  and  that  the  tavern-keepers  whoso  licenses  were 
withdrawn  would  not  starve  if  they  could  help  it,  but  would 
l)ly  an  illicit  trade.  The  result  was  a  large  increase  of  the 
number  of  cases  of  drunkenness  before  the  magistrates  and  an 
unusually  drunken  Christnuis,  Nor  could  the  I'rohibitionists 
find  any  way  of  parrying  the  natural  inference  better  than  an 
insinuation  that  drinking  had  been  promoted  by  the  powers  of 
darkness  for  the  special  purpose  of  discrediting  their  policy. 

It  may  be  argued  with  some  force  that  when  the  Scott  Act 
was  adopted  by  some  counties  and  not  by  others  the  moral 
perceptions  of  the  peophi  in  the  counti<'s  that  did  adopt  it 
would  be  disturbed  by  the  vicinage  of  a  different  code.  But 
even  if  the  Prohibitionist  code  were  imposed  on  a  whole 
nation  the  difficulty,  if  diminished,  woidd  not  be  removed. 
To  make  an  Eleventh  Commandment  you  must  obtain  the 
concurrence  of  the  civilised  world,  intercourse  and  communi- 
cation between  all  the  parts  of  which  are  now  too  active  for  a 
sectional  morality.  Tut  all  Canada  under  Prohibition,  and 
every  Canadian  who  visits  a  foreign  country  will  be  apt  to 
come  back  a  heretic,  and  to  propagate  his  heresy  on  his  return. 
Literature,  moreover,  from  Homer  to  Dickens  is  full  of  the 
other  view. 

The  results  of  coercive  legislation  in  the  United  States, 
wherever  the  experiment  has  been  tried,  seem  to  tally  with 
those  of  coercive  legislation  in  Canada.    Maine  is  the  "banner- 


I'llOllIunioN  IN  CANADA  AND  TlIK  UNITKD  STATES.    IM.'l 


Dur  brother ; 
jounteniiiico 

measures  of 
r  mueh  the 

venture  to 
L's  powerful 
ci'  extermi- 
seventy-tive 
y  lueiisure, 
iminisli  the 
bhtu'e  wouhl 
censes  were 
I,  but  wouUl 
ease  of  the 
•at(!  and  ;iii 
liihitionists 
ter  than  au 
e  powers  of 
ir  policy, 
e  Scott  Act 

the  moral 
id  adopt  it 
code.  But 
n   a  whole 

0  removed, 
obtain  the 

1  communi- 
ctive  for  a 
bition,  and 

be  apt  to 

his  return. 

full  of  the 

ted  States, 

tally  with 

le  "banuer- 


■1 


State  "  of  Prohibition.  It  has  been  trying  tlie  system  for  over 
forty  years,  niorf  than  tinui  (niough  to  kill  the  litpior-tratlic, 
if  tlu!  licpior-tratfie  was  to  bt!  kilhHl.  Y(!t  of  Maine,  "Gail 
Hamilton,"  who  must  know  it  well,  said  in  tlu!  North  Arneri- 
can  UeoUnv.  "The  actual  result  is  that  liipior  is  sold  to  all 
who  wish  to  obtain  it  in  nearly  (ivery  town  in  the  State.  En- 
forcement of  the  law  seems  to  have  little  effect.  For  the  past 
six  years  the  city  (jf  liangor  has  practically  enjoyed  free  rum. 
In  more  than  oiu;  hundred  j)la(M'S  li(iuor  is  sold  and  no  attempt 
has  been  made  to  enfonie  the  hiw.  In  Huth,  L«wiHton, 
Augusta,  and  other  cities  no  real  ditUculty  is  expefrieneed  in 
procuring  liiiuor.  In  Portland,  enforcement  of  the  law  has 
been  faithfully  atttunpted,  yet  the  liquor-tratHc  flourishes  for 
all  classes  from  the  highest  to  the  lowest.  ...  In  a  journey 
last  summer  for  hundreds  of  miles  through  the  cities  and 
through  the  scattered  villag(!S  and  hamlets  oi'  Maine,  the 
almost  universal  testimony  was  'you  get  liquor  enough  for 
bad  purposes  in  bad  places,  but  you  cannot  get  it  for  good 
purposes  in  good  ])laces."'  "What  Avorks  against  Prohibi- 
tion," the  writer  adds,  "is  that  in  the  opinion  of  many  of 
the  most  earnest  total-abstinence  men,  the  original  Maine- Law 
State  after  thirty  years  of  Prohibition  is  no  more  a  Temper- 
ance State  than  it  was  before  Prohibition  was  introduced." 
It  appears  that  upwards  of  1000  people  in  the  State  paid 
United  States  retail  liquor-tax,  though  Archdeacon  Farrar 
was  informed  that  the  trade  had  been  completely  driven  out 
of  sight.  The  Maine  Prison  Report  for  1884  said  :  "  Intoxica- 
tion is  on  the  increase ;  some  new  legislation  must  be  made 
if  it  is  to  be  lessened.  In  many  of  our  counties  Prohibition 
does  not  seem  to  affect  or  ])revent  it."  In  the  city  of  Portland 
(population  34,000)  in  1874  the  arrests  for  drunkenness  were 
2318.  But  drunkenness  was  not  confined  to  the  cities.  Every 
one  of  the  sixteen  counties  furnished  its  quota.  The  number  of 
committals  for  drunkenness  for  one  year  was  1316  for  a  popu- 
lation of  048,000,  while  in  Canada,  an  area  at  that  time  not 
under  the  Scott  Act,  with  a  population  of  001,000,  and  a  town 
population  as  large  as  that  in  Maine,  showed  only  593  com- 


III! 


344 


QUESTIONS   OF  THE   ])AV. 


mittals,  less  than  half  the  number  of  those  in  the  model  State 
of  Prohibition.     General  Neal  Dow  himself,  upbraiding  his 
former  party  for  its  slackness  in  the  cause,  complained  of  the 
number  of  low  drinking-places  infesting  the  cities  of  Maine. 
The  New  York  Smi  after  investigation  carried  on  through 
its  correspondent,  said:  "The  actual  state  of  alfairs  in  Maine 
is  perfectly  well  understood  by  every  Maine  man  with  eyes 
in   his   head,  and  by  every  observant  visitor  to   Maine.     In 
no  part  of  the  world  is  the  spectacle  of  drunken  men  reel- 
ing along  the   streets  more  common   than  in  the  cities  and 
larger  towns  of  Maine.     Nowhere   in  the  world  is  the  aver- 
age quality  of  the   liquor  sold  so   bad,  and  consequently  so 
dangerous  to  the  health  of  the  consumer  and  the  peace  of  the 
public.     The  facilities  for  obtaining  liquor  vary  in  different 
parts  of  the  State,   from  the  cities  where   fancy-drinks  are 
openly  compounded  and  sold  over  rosewood  bars,  to  the  places 
where  it  is  dispensed  by  the  swig  from  flat  bottles  carried 
around    in   the   breeches    pockets   of  perambulating   dealers. 
But  liquor,  good  or  bad,  can  be  bought  anywhere."     Perjury, 
the  Sun  correspondent  also  stated,  as  usual,  was  rife.     The 
most  recent  evidence  is  to  the  same  effect.     In  the  cities  of 
Maine,  though  the  law  has  been  forty-six  times  amended  to 
sharpen  its  teeth,  liquor,  generally  of  a  bad  kind,  is  freely 
though  clandestinely  sold.      "Pocket  peddling"  is   rife   and 
presses  the  temptation  on  the  young.     The  city  of  Bangor  has 
openly  taken  itself  out  of  the  law,  and  established  a  liquor 
system  of   its  own.     In  Portland  the  city  government  sells 
liquor  nominally  for  medicine,  but  really  also  as  a  beverage, 
and  the  agency  is  a  scene  of  falsehood,  jobbery,  and  corruption. 
The  corruption  of  city  officers  is  an  almost  inevitable  and  a 
serious  consequence  of  the  system.     Some  of  those  who  have 
administered  the  law  in  Maine  are  among  the  strongest  advo- 
cates of  repeal  and  of  a  return  to  the  license  system.     They 
tried  to  give  effect  to  the  law.     They  fine,  they  imprison,  they 
perhaps  ruin  one  set  of  liquor  dealers,  and  the  only  result  is 
that  a  worse  set  succeeds. 
Nor  has  Maine  fulfilled  the  golden  promises  held  out  by 


PROHIBITION  IN  CANADA  AND  THE  UNITED  STATES.    345 


iiodel  State 
raiding  his 
ined  of  the 
'<  of  Maine. 
)n  through 
3  in  Maine 
with  eyes 
Maine.     In 
men  reel- 
cities  and 
i  the  aver- 
juently  so 
eace  of  the 
1  different 
drinks  are 
the  places 
les  carried 
g  dealers. 
Perjury, 
rife.     The 
e  cities  of 
nended  to 
,  is  freely 
rife   and 
tangor  has 
i  a  liquor 
nent  sells 
beverage, 
orruption. 
tble  and  a 
who  have 
jest  advo- 
m.    They 
ison,  they 
'  result  is 

d  out  by 


Prohibition  of  immunity  from  crime  and  enhanced  prosperity. 
Though  the  population  of  the  State  has  been  stationary,  the 
statistics  of  crime  have  increased.  In  1873  the  number  of  com- 
mittals to  gaol  was  1548 ;  in  1884  it  was  3G72.  The  pauper  rate 
of  the  cities  was  large  compared  with  that  in  other  States.  More 
recent  statistics  seem  not  much  to  alter  the  case.  All  statistics 
of  this  kind  may  require  qualification  on  account  of  changes  in 
population  or  trade.  But  Prohibition  at  all  events  cannot  be 
said  to  have  put  an  end  to  crime  or  pauperism  in  Maine.  If 
that  State  has  advanced  socially,  or  morally,  or  economically, 
it  has  not  advanced  farLher  than  other  States  similar  to  it  in 
general  respects  but  without  a  prohibitive  law.  Prohibition  has 
been  the  platform  of  one  of  the  political  parties ;  otherwise  it 
seems  not  unlikely  that  there  might  have  been  a  repeal  of  the 
law  and  a  return  to  the  license  system.  Entanglement  of  f 
social  and  moral  question  with  the  tactics  and  hypocrisy  of 
a  political  party  is  an  evil  attendant  of  Prohibition.  The 
integrity  even  of  churches  is  in  sojne  peril.  ''The  Methodists," 
said  General  Neal  Dow,  "  are  a  very  great  body  of  religionists 
in  this  country,  and  always  at  their  conventions  they  form  very 
grand  resolutions  against  the  liquor  traffic.  There  is  hardly 
any  language  in  the  English  tongue  that  they  do  not  use  against 
the  liquor  traffic.  Nice  men  they  are  and  educated  men  too, 
but  after  that  they  go  directly  round  and  vote  for  rum.  The 
Presbyterians  all  do  the  same  thing,  and  the  Congregationalists 
will  do  the  same.  When  I  have  occasion  to  speak  to  them  I 
say,  '  I  would  rather  you  would  resolve  against  temperance  and 
pray  against  temperance,  and  then  vote  against  rum,  rather 
than  you  would  pray  and  resolve  against  intemperance  and 
then  go  and  vote  for  rum.' " 

Vermont  has  also  been  trying  Prohibition  for  more  than  forty 
years.  Here  the  (uty  population  is  comparatively  small,  so 
that  the  system  h:.i  the  fairest  chance ;  while  the  legislature, 
under  the  pressure  of  the  "Temperance  vote,"  has  piled  one 
repressive  enactment  upon  another,  heaped  up  penalties,  and 
at  last  given  the  police  power  to  enter  any  house  without 
a  warrant.     The  result  after  thirty  years  was  reported  by  Mr. 


I     ii 


m 


;ufl 


1 

1         \l 

.      I' 


•mm 


QUESTIONS  OF  TIIK   DAY. 


Edward  Johnson  in   the   Popular  Science   Monthly  for  May, 
1884.     He  states  that  "for  all  practical  purposes  the  law  is 
an   absolute   dead   letter."     There  were   at   the  time   of  his 
writing  in  the  State  446  places  where  liquor  was  sold,  ami 
though  the  population  was  well-nigh  stationary  there  was  a 
marked  increase  in  their  number.     "  A  large  proportion  of  the 
dram-shops  are  on  the  principal  streets,  and  there  is  no  con- 
cealment of  the  illegal  traffic.     Spasmodic  attempts  to  enforce 
the  law  are  made  in  the  larger  places,  but  are  utterly  futile. 
Of  enforcing  the  law,  as  the  lav/s  against  burglary  and  larceny 
are  enforced,  nobody  dreams  for  a  moment."     "Such,"  says 
Mr.  Johnson,  "  is  the  unsatisfactory  result  of  Vermont's  thirty 
years'   experience   of    the    Prohibitory    liquor-laws."     "One 
might,"  he  adds,  "go  still  further  and  speak  of  the  perjury 
and  subornation  of  perjury  for  which  the  law  is  in  a  sense 
responsible,  of  the  disregard  and  contempt  of  all  law  which 
the  operation  of  this  law  tends  to  foster  and  encourage,  and 
of  cognate  matters  which  will  occur  to  the  reflective  reader; 
but  perhaps  enough  has  been  said  in  showing  the  failure  of  the 
law  to  accomplish  the  object  for  which  it  was  enacted."    No 
attempt,  so  far  as  we  know,  has  been  made  to  controvert  Mr. 
Johnson's    statements,  or  to   refute  the  conclusion  which  he 
draws  from  them,  and  which  is  that  men  cannot  be  dragooned 
into  virtue  ;  that  is,  not  by  State  interference  with  practices 
not   in  themselves  criminal,  but  only  by  State  interference 
with  positive  crime. 

Massachusetts  also  for  a  series  of  years  tried  Prohibition. 
The  result  is  embodied  in  the  Report  of  a  joint  committee  rf 
both  Houses  of  the  Legislature  (1807),  which  ought  to  be  in 
the  hands  of  all  those  who  wish  to  be  guided  by  experience 
in  this  matter.  Tliat  Report,  founded  on  the  best  evidence, 
states  that  the  law,  if  by  its  operation  it  diminishes  the  num- 
ber of  open  places  of  drinking,  does  so  only  to  multiply  the 
secret  places,  thxt  more  liquor  and  worse  liquor  was  drunk, 
that  drunkenness  had  increased  almost  in  direct  ratio  to  tlie 
closing  of  public  places  of  sale,  and  that  there  was  more  of  it 
in  Boston  than  there  had  been  at  any  previous  time  in  tlie 


PROHIRiriON  IN  CANADA  AND  THE  UNITED  STATES.     347 


'/  for  May, 
the  law  is 
iine  of  his 
5  sold,  and 
here  was  a 
[•tion  of  the 
■  is  no  (!on- 
•5  to  enforce; 
terly  futile. 
ind  larceny 
5uch,"  says 
ont's  thirty 
s."  "  One 
;he  perjury 
in  a  sense 
law  which 
)urage,  and 
ive  reader; 
ilure  of  the 
eted."  No 
brovert  Mr. 
which  he 
dragooned 
h  practices 
iterference 

'rohibition. 
inmittee  *  f 
lit  to  be  in 
experience 
;  evidence, 
s  the  num- 
iltiply  the 
i^as  drunk, 
atio  to  the 
more  of  it 
me  in  the 


history  of  the  city.  "  The  mere  fact,"  says  the  Report  —  in 
words  to  which  we  would  call  special  attention  —  "the  mere 
fact  that  the  law  seeks  to  prevent  them  from  drinking  rorses 
the  determination  to  drink  in  many.  The  fact  that  the  place 
is  secret  takes  away  the  restraint  Avhich,  in  more;  public  and 
respectable  places,  would  keep  them  within  temperate  bounds. 
The  fact  that  the  business  is  contraband  and  liable  to  inter- 
ruption, and  that  its  gains  are  hazardous,  tends  to  drive  honest 
men  from  it  and  to  leave  it  under  the  control  of  dishonest 
nuMi,  who  will  not  scruple  to  poison  the  community  with  vile 
adulteration."  In  conclusion,  the  Report  submits  that  so  long 
as  there  is  a  demand  for  liquor  there  will  be  a  supply,  licensed 
or  illicit,  and  recommends  regulated  freedom  as  the  best 
policy. 

In  Iowa  again  Prohibition  has  been  on  its  trial.  A  corre- 
spondent of  Harper's  WeeJchj,  recommended  as  thoroughly 
trustworthy  by  a  journal  itself  very  careful  of  its  statements, 
reported  that  Prohibition  in  the  cities  of  Iowa  meant  free 
liquor.  A  correspondent  of  the  New  York  Nation  testi- 
fied to  much  the  same  effect,  adding  that  the  local  organ  of 
Prohibition  itself  admitted  the  failure.  Dr.  Dio  Lewis,  the 
Cato  of  dietists,  said  that  he  had  touched  at  several  of  the 
large  cities  on  a  tour  to  the  Rocky  Mountains,  and  among 
other  things  had  inquired  into  the  practical  benefits  reaped 
from  Prohibition.  In  places  where  he  had  been  assured  that 
drink  could  not  be  had  for  love  or  money  he  had  seen  drunk- 
ards reeling  in  the  streets.  In  Iowa  City,  wliere  Prohibition 
was  supposed  to  be  enforced,  he  saw  from  seventy-five  to  a 
hundred  kegs  of  beer  delivered  on  trucks  from  a  brewery. 
His  practical  conclusion  was  that  Prohibition  was  a  wild 
theory;  ''that  as  a  preventative  it  had  not  met  the  claims  of 
its  supporters,  and  as  an  aid  to  the  cause  of  Temperance  was  a 
failure."  Dubuque  is  a  city  of  about  35,000  inhabitants.  Its 
business  Directory  comprises  two  breweries,  six  bottlers, 
thirty-five  hotels,  ten  wholesale  liquor  places,  and  a  hundred 
and  eighty-one  saloons.  The  annual  expense  to  the  liquor- 
seller  in  the  way  of  "  license  "  is  small :  he  pays  the  United 


11 


348 


QiU':sTi()Ns  OF  Tin:  day. 


I/I 

7' 


K  ^        [ 


l^i'ussist 


states  Government  tax  of  |25,  and  twice  a  year 
prosecutcHi   and   iined   f  50  by   tlie    municipality.      i,nic..,st 
shops  are  turned  into  liquor  shops  with  a  few  drugs  iu'tlie 
window.  °  ^ 

In  Kansas,  the  State  of  Governor  St.  John,  the  chosen  chief 
of  I  rohibit.onism,  where  the  most  stringent  Prohibition  had 
been  enacted,  the  result,  according  to  Dr.  Gardner,  was  that 
the  drug-stores  were  little  more  than  rum-shops,  and  that  their 
number   was    astonishing.      In   one   town   of   four   thousand 
poople,  hfteen   of  them  were   counted   on   the   main   street 
LeavenAvorth,  with  a  population  of  23,000,  has  a  hundred  and" 
seventy -five  places  where  liquor  is  sold.     In  Kansas  City  the 
police   collected   in  1882  « 45,000  in  fines  for  illegal  sale  of 
liquor.     There  is  a  general  tendency  to  convert  ]>rohibition 
where  it  prevails,  practically  into  license  by  taking  the  fees 
under  the  guise  of  fines.     In  Tongawoxie,  a   small  town  in 
Kansas  where  there  was  no  saloon  before  Prohibition,  there 
are  three  or  four  now.    This  is  against  the  theory  tliat  Prohibi- 
tion works  well  in  small  places  though  in  large  cities  it  works 
ill.     At  iopeka  m  Kansas  there  are  no  saloons.     P.ut  there 
were  none  when  Prohibition  was  introduced,  popular  feelinc; 
being  against  them.     A  proof  that  it  is  popular  feeling  that  is 
strong  not  prohibitive  law.     Tlie  Canadian  Commission,  how- 
ever   has   been  making  careful   inquiry  in   Kansas   and   the 
results  of  its  investigations  will  soon  appear. 

It  seems  that  experience  has  always  pointed  the  same  way 
Under  James  I.  and  Charles  I.  a  series  of  Acts  was  passed  to 
suppress  tippling,  the  effect  of  which  evidently  was  only  to 
suppress  the  respectability  of  the  tavern-keepers,  who  at  last 
were  found  to  be  unable  to  pay  fines,  so  that  Parliament  had 
to  resort  to  flogging  as  a  penalty.     The  failure  is  the  more 
significant  because  the  Executive  was  so  strong,  and  was  sure 
to  be  br.cked  in  this  case  by  the  Puritan  Parliament.     The 
Gin  Act  of  George  II.  was  found  to  have  made  bad  worse,  and 
had  to  be  repealed.    Even  in  Puritan  Connecticut,  where  the 
pressure  of  ecclesiastical  authority  was  tremendous,  the  his- 
torian tells  us  that  "rules  against  excess  in  drinking  and  in 


PROHIlilTION  IN  CANADA  AND  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


.'540 


is  formally 

I^i'uggist 

rugs  in  tlio 


ihosen  chief 
ibition  had 
ir,  was  that 
1  that  their 
I"   thousaiiil 
lain   street. 
Lindred  and 
as  City  the 
gal  sale  of 
*rohil)ition, 
g  the  fees 
'11  town  in 
[tion,  there 
at  Prohibi- 
ts it  works 
But  there 
lar  feelinf? 
ing  that  is 
ision,  how- 
i  and   the 

same  way. 
passed  to 
bs  only  to 
10  at  last 
ment  had 
the  more 
was  sure 
mt.     Tlie 
'orse,  and 
diere  the 
the  his- 
g  and  in 


apparel  were  attempted,  with  the  usual  want  of  snci^ess." 
Heaven  appears  in  no  place  or  timo  to  have  prospered  what 
we  are  told  is  its  own  cause. 

The  difKculty  of  even  enforcing  vaccination  in  places  where  it 
IS  widely  resisted,  shows  how  arduous  a  task  is  coercive  legisla- 
tion  when  it  is  not  backed  by  popular  conviction,  which,  if  it 
is  m  favour  of  the  principle,  will  produce  the  effect  without 
coercive  law. 

About  ten  years  ago,  a  mass  meeting  of  the  friends  of 
Temperance,  connected  with  the  Church  Tomperance  Society 
was  held  at  Chickering  Hall,  at  New  York.  The  hall  was 
mil  to  overflowing;  speeches  were  made  by  Mr.  Warner  Miller 
Kev.  Dr.  Greer,  the  Bishop  of  Delaware,  Mr.  Seth  Low  and 
Father  Osborne.  The  sense  of  the  meeting  was  evidently 
in  favour  of  high  license,  as  practically  the  best  safeguard 
against  intemperance.  Dr.  Greer  dwelt  on  the  failure  of 
Prohibition  in  PI  ode  Island,  declaring  that  ''the  State  was 
not  less  wicked  as  a  Prohibition  State  than  as  a  low-license 
State ;  that  the  tactics  to  which  reputable  citizens  resorted  to 
evade  the  law  created  a  spirit  of  lawlessness;  and  that,  with 
regard  to  the  city  of  Providence,  numerous  clubs  had  sprung 
up  there,  where  the  citizens  could  drink  their  fill  and  be  shel- 
tered from  publicity  or  arrest." 

By  voluntary  associations,  such  as  Teetotal  societies  and  the 
Bands  of  Hope,  and  still  more  by  the  general  advance  of 
morality,  of  intelligence,  and  above  all   of  medical  science 
great  improvement  has  been  made  in  Canada  as  it  has  else- 
where.    Old  inhabitants  *-ell  you  that  forty  or  fifty  years  ago 
drunkenness  was  very  common  among  our  farmers,  and  that 
many  of  them  regularly  went  home  from  market  the  worse 
for  liquor.     Now  the  Canadian  farmers  are  a  very  sober  race. 
There  is  a  certain  amount  of  drunkenness,  as  well  as  of  other 
vices,  in  our  cities,  but  a  large  proportion  of  the  cases  are 
those  of  THcMt  immigrants.     The  writer  would  be  inclined  to 
say,  judqm--  from  outward  appearances,  that  Toronto,  com- 
pared with  other  cities  in  which  he  has  lived,  is  sober  as  well 
as  orderly.     It  has  indeed  been  proclaimed  from  the  Prohibi- 


i:        .( 


ft  'i  ^1 


1.      i! 


h. 


'•        ,     II 


i:\ 


nr^n 


QlIKSriONS   OK    TIIIO    DAY 


iioii  platform  tliat  lluu-o  am  sovcii,  or  oven  ton,  tliousaiid 
(Icatlis  from  drinking  in  tlio  Dominion  overy  year.  This  would 
be  liom  a  third  to  one-half  of  the  total  number  of  male  adult 
deaths.  About  the  time  when  this  announcement  was  made 
the  Mortuary  Statistics  gave  the  total  number  of  deaths  from 
alcoholic;  causes  in  eight  principal  cities  and  towns  in  one 
nu)nth  as  two.  fn  England  likewise,  the  evil  habit  of  drink- 
ing has  been  greatly  reduced,  without  any  restrictive  laws 
or  restraint  of  any  kind,  mainly  by  the  increasing  iuHu- 
cnce  of  medical  science,  and  in  connection  with  the  general 
progress  of  hygienic  reform.  It  shoukl  be  observed  that 
voluntary  effort  will  be  weakened  by  coercive  legislation. 
Prohibition,  if  universally  enforced,  would  break  up  Teetotal 
fraternities  und  Bands  of  Hope;  and  unless  it  was  itself 
successful  in  extirpating  the  desire  for  drink,  that  desire 
might  any  day  break  out  again  on  a  large  scale,  and  find  no 
organ ii-ation  on  foot  to  resist  its  sway. 

I'efore  the  lU'itish  Parliament  consents  to  extreme  legisla- 
tion, let  it  at  all  events  appoint  a  Commission  of  Inquiry  to 
report  to  it  on  the  results  of  prohibitory  legislation  in  Canada 
and  the  United  States.  The  Conmissioners,  will  probably 
iw;fl  i;hat  impartirJ  opinion  on  the  continent  pronounces  Pro- 
hibition a  failure,  and  inclines  decidedly  in  favour  of  the 
itlan  of  high  licenses  Avith  stringent  regulation.  That  strin- 
gent and  exceptional  legislation  is  required  for  the  liquor- 
traffc  nobody  doubts.  Nor  do  the  respectable  members  of 
t'le  trade  deprecate  it;  for  nothing  can  be  less  conducive 
to  tlieir  interest  than  drunkenness  and  disorder  on  their 
premises.  It  is  quite  possible  that  a  stricter  code  may  he 
necessary  in  England  than  is  necessary  in  the  United  States 
or  Canada.  There  is  nothing,  thank  Heaven,  on  the  American 
continent  like  the  gin-palaces  of  London. 

A  license  fee  as  high  as  a  thousand  dollars  (200/.)  has  been 
proposed,  and  the  prospect  of  revenue  is  tempting  to  the 
municipalities.  But  if  the  system  is  overstrained  its  effect 
will  practici.ily  be  the  same  as  Prohibition ;  it  will  call  into 
existence   in  towns  and  cities  an  illicit  trade,  which  of  all 


IMiOmniTION  IN  CANADA   AM)  TMK  IIMTKI)  STATKS. 


.•!r,i 


n,  tlious;ui(l 
This  would 
f  male  adult 
'  ^vas  111  ado, 
deaths  from 
>wns  in  one 
•it  of  driiik- 
.rictive  laws 
asing  intiu- 
tho  gencn-al 
served  tliat 
legislation, 
up  Teetotal 
;  was  itself 
that  desire 
and.  find  no 

erne  legisla- 
'  Inquiry  to 
ti  in  Canada 
11  probably 
ounces  Pro- 
vour  of  the 
That  strin- 
tlie  liquor- 
nenibers  of 

I  conducive 
sr  on  their 
'de  may  be 
lited  States 
e  American 

'.)  has  been 
ing  to  the 
d  its  effect 

II  call  into 
hioh  of  all 


results  is  the  worst.  To  din.inish  the  demand  for  liquors  by 
moral  agencies  has  been  shown  to  bo  practicable,  botli  in 
(Canada  and  among  the  upper  classes  in  Knglaud  ;  to  diminish 
ilie  supply  without  .liiuinishing  the  dcimand  seems  to  be  im- 
pra(!ticable,  resort  to  what  ex[)edi{'nts  you  will. 

It  is  as  needless  to  dilate  on  the  evils  of  intcinperance  as  it 
is  to  dilate  on  the  evils  of  small-i)ox.     The  only  question  is 
./hether  prohibitive  legislation  cures  or  rather  aggravates  an.l 
propagates  the  dis(!ase.     Jiut  the  advocates  of  coercion  have 
surely  overstated  tlie  connection  between  drinking  and  crim(>. 
I'^rom  their  language  it  might  be  supposed  that  if  we  could 
only  stamp  out  drinking,  crime:,  of  all  kinds  would  cease,  our 
gaols  would  stand  empty,  and  W(!  should  b(!  at  liberty  to  dis- 
ba,nd  the  police.     If  it  were  so,  no  measures,  provided  they 
were  effective^  could  be  too  strong.     Hut  can  we  believe  th:it 
cruelty,    lust,    covetousness,    vindictiveness,    malice,   and   tlic, 
other  evil  tendencies  of  human  nature*  in  wliich  crime  lias  its 
source,  are  all  the  off^spring  of  drink,  and  that  with  drink  they 
would  d(*pa,rt'/     Do  tluy  not  manifest  themselves,  in  germ  at 
least,  ill  children  whose  lips  have  never  touched  the^  gla.ss  ? 
Among  the  poorer  classes  seasons  of  distress  are  seasons  of 
crime,  though  the  power  of  buying  liquor  is  diminished.     Is 
there   no   crime   in   Mahomedan   (iountries,   wliich   keep   the 
Prophet's  law  ?     is  there  none  in  Spain,  the  people  of  which 
are  remarkable  for  their  temjieraiice  ?     It  is  natural  that  the 
criminal  classes  should  also  l)e  given  to  drink,  as  they  are  to 
gross  sensuality  of  other  kinds;  but  it  does  not  follow  that 
their  addiction  to  drink  is  the  sole,   or  even  the  principal, 
source  of  their  crime.     I'risoners,  too,  are  apt  to  plead  drink 
in  extenuation  of  their  offences,  especially  since  they  know 
that  philanthropy  will   hail  their  plea.     A  remarkable  arti- 
cle on  diet  appeared   in    1885   from   the  pen   of   Sir   Henry 
Thompson,  in  which  he  avowed  liis  belief  that  not  only  the 
bodily  but  the  moral  evil  arising  from  intemperance  in  eating 
was  as  great  as  that  arising   from    intemperance   in    drink. 
Certainly,   we   should   not  look    fin-   more   malevolence  in  a 
drinker  of  any  but  the  worst  whiskey  or  rum  than  in  one  who, 


m 


(iUKsrroNS  OF  thk  day. 


Il'lf 


i 


I';  I' 


ii> 


n. 


(li! 


like  too  many  ppoplo  in  Aniorioa,  ovor-euts  liinisclf  daily  with 
fat  and  ill-boik'd  porlc,  or  hoet'stcak  cooked  in  the  (hiudly  Iryinir. 
pan,  as  well  as  with  hall-baked  hiead  and  greasy  pie,  washinir 
down  the  whole  with  copions  draughts  of  the  most  abominable 
green  tea.     The  Maine  Prison  Keport  for  ISSl:  says:  "Intem- 
perance is  not  a  cause  of  crime;  it  is  a  crime  more  against 
society  and  against  the  family  than  against  tin;  State."     The 
\V(  rds  are  a  little  aml)iguous,  but  they  (certainly  do  not  mean 
that  intem[)erance  is  the  sole  sour<!e  of  crime.     The.  warden  ol 
the  Maine  State  prison,  n; viewing  the  declarations  made  of 
each  convict  between  the  years   1880  and  1887,  found  that 
of  375  convicts  194  declared  that  they  used  no  liquor,  IGIJ 
that  they  used  some  liquor,  and  88  that  they  were  intemperate. 
Whether  we  or  any  of  us  ought  entirely  to  renounce  alcohol 
it  is  for  science  to  determine.     If  science  jjronounces  that  we 
ought,  there  can  be  little  doubt  that  the  growing  intelligence 
of  humanity  will  gradually  conform  to  tin;  decision,  as  it  is 
already  conforming  to  the  decision  of  science  by  other  changes 
of  habit.     But  one  can  hardly  help  thinking  that  even  with 
regard   to  the  ])hysical  effects  of   alcohol   there   has,  at  all 
events,  been  a  good  deal  of  exaggeration  on  the  "  Temperance  " 
platform.      The  sort  of  spirits  to  Avhich  Prohibition  drives 
people,  as  we  have  seen,  is  ])oison  indeed.     P)Ut  surely  it  is 
only  in  a  metaphorical  sense  that  the  name  can  be  applied  to 
liquors    which   a  nuin  has  drunk  through   a   life   of   eighty, 
ninety,  even  a  hundred   years.     In  Manitoba  there  are  two 
bodies  of  Mennonites,  of  Avhich  one  drinks  spirits  or  fermented 
liquors,  while  the  other  abstains  ;    and  a  person  who  has  a 
great  deal  to  do  with  the  Mennonit(>s,  and  whoso  evidence  is 
to  be  trusted,  told  the  writer  that  the  section  which  drinks 
is  rather   superior   in   progressive  energy  to   the  section  of 
abstainers.      No   part   of   our   Canadian   i)0])ulation  is  more 
industrious  or  worthier  than  the  Germans  of  Waterloo  County, 
Ontario,  who,  like  all  Germans,  drink  beer.     That  alcohol  does 
not  nourish,  supposing  it  tt)  be  true,  is  not  much  to  the  piu-- 
pose.     If  alcohol  does  not  nourish,  it  exhilarates.     Tea,  which 
some  Prohibitionists  drink  in  floods,  and  on  which  they  spend 


r 


I  ! 


If  daily  witli 
nully  I'ryiiiL;-- 
pic,  washing 
.  .'ihomiiuibU! 
ys:  *'  liitem- 
iiori)  ugaiiisl, 
'tato."  Tli(! 
lo  not  mean 
u',  wai'don  ol 
)ns  made  ol' 

found  that 

li(luor,  10;; 
intemperate, 
luiee  alcohol 
iices  that  wc 

intolligenco 
lion,  as  it  is 
ilier  (',han<,'es 
t  even  with 

has,  at  all 
cmperance  " 
ition  drives 
surely  it  is 
le  applied  to 
I  of  eighty, 
are  are  two 
•r  fermented 

who  has  a 
!  evidence  is 
liich  drinks 
!  section  of 
ion  is  more 
[•loo  County, 
alcohol  does 
to  the  piir- 

Tca,  which 

they  spend 


i 
I 


I'I{()|III5I HON   IN  CANADA   AND    I'lIK  rNIIKD  STAIKS.     .'JM 

as  much  money  as  others  do  in  beer,  does  not  nourish,  hut  it 
sooth(\s.  Possibly  the  exhilaration  [)n)(huu-(l  by  wine  may 
sometimes  have  been  a  necessary  antidote  to  melancholy,  which 
would  otherwise  pn'y  fatally  on  the  mind.  The;  Psalmist,  who 
praised  wine  as  making  glad  the  heart  of  man,  though  he  lived 
before  science,  may  have  spoken  with  tin;  voice  of  Nature. 
I'.ut  let  niedical  science  decide;  to  her,  not  to  the  religious 
or  political  platform,  the  (|uestion  belongs. 

The  T(!m[)erance  ])latform   has  also  beyond    doul)t  grossly 
exaggerated  the  effect  of  nu)derate  di'iiddng  in  tempting  on- 
ward to  excess.     To  maiidain  thai  a  man  who  is  in  the  habit 
of  taking  daily  a  ghiss  of  wine  or  beer  must  inevitably  contraiit 
a  craving  which  will  lead  to  his  becoming  a  druidtard,  is  ne- 
cessary, no  doubt,  for  the  justification  of  those  who  advocate 
indiscriminate  repression;  but  nothing  can  be  more  flagrantly 
at  variance  with  obvious  facts.     An  ordinary  English  genths- 
nian  takes  a  glass  of  wine  daily  at  dinner  without  feeling  any 
more  temi)ted  to  swallow  the  whole  contents  of  the  dcicanter 
than  he  is  to  swallow  the  whole  contents  of  the  nuistard-pot 
from  which  he  takes  a  sjjoonful  with  his  beef.     A  man  may 
l»lay  a  gaino  of  eribbage  with    his  wife  without  becoming  a 
gambler,     [f  Johnson   found  abstinence  easier  than   temi)er- 
ance,  it  was  because  he  had  once  been  intemperate.     He  knew 
that  his  own  case  was  peculiar.     To  most  men,  as  tlu^y  require 
physical  enjoyment  of  some  kind,  temperance  is  easier  than 
abstinence.     The  Spaniards  regularly  drink  wini;,  yet  Croker, 
in  his  "Travels  in  Spain,"  says,  "The  habitvuil  temperance  of 
these  people  is  really  astonishing;    1  never  saw  a  Spaniard 
drink  a  second  glass  of  wine."      Another  English  tourist  says, 
"  Tn  all  our  wanderings  through  town  and  country,  along  the 
highways  and  byways  of  the  land  from  Bayonne  to  Gibraltar, 
we  never  saw  nu)r(!  than  four  men  who  were  the  least  intoxi- 
cated."    Mr.  Bryant,  the  American  author,  has  confirmed  this 
account.      A  clerical  advocate  of    our   Scott  Act   once  said 
that  he  would  no  more  think  of  putting  liquor  within  reach  of 
the  people,  than  of  putting  a  knife  within  reach  of  a  baby. 
Supposing  a  glass  of  ale  to  be  a  knife,  the  reverend  gentleman's 

2a 


<2ri;siioNs  OK  riiK  day 


i 


1':. 


tVllow-citi/ptiH  iiro  not  b.'ibioH.  Anions;  tlio  cxtromc  iidvocafcs 
(»r  fO('r('i(>ii  lire,  it,  is  hclifvctl,  incii  wlio  li;iv(^  (liciiisclvcs  bcni 
f^ivcn  t(t  drink,  und  who  cainiot  understiuid  the  cxistcnrc  ol 
si'll'-control. 

From  connnunitii's  v('x»>(l  by  arbitrary  lo5,'islati(»n  those  who 
rob(>l  aj,'ainst  arbitrary  h\t,M.shition,  or  (h)  not  wish  to  have,  their 
tastes  and  habits  re;^iihited  by  a,  tyrannical  majority,  will 
(h'lcirt.  It  seems  that  the  liermans,  (>xeeUent  setth'rs,  but 
nnwilliny:  to  give  up  tli(>ir  hij;er  h(>er,  have  been  driven  from 
Maine.  Aij;ainst  higer  beer  as  well  as  ei(h>r  and  oth(M'  li.L,dit 
driid<s  Prohibition,  as  has  already  been  said,  diseriminates  ; 
(heir  bnlk  in  projiortion  to  the  alcohol  making  them  unsuitable 
I'or  contraband  sale. 

The  taste  I'or  levmented  liqmtrs,  if  not  congenital,  seems  to 
be  immemorial  and  almost  universal.  Its  tracuis  appear  in  all 
the  mythologies,  Hindu,  Hellenic,  lloman,  and  Scandinaviiiii. 
Probably  the  use  of  such  li(juors  is  coeval  with  cookery,  which 
also  has  been  the  source  of  much  ev'  as  well  as  of  nuicli 
pleasure  to  m;nd<ind.  It  is  very  likely  tnat  a  great  change  in 
human  diet,  as  well  as  in  human  beliefs  and  institutions,  is 
coming;  but  it  is  not  likely  that  this  cluinge  will  conu!  sud- 
denly, (u-  that  diet,  being  comjilex,  will  undergo  a  revolution 
in  one  of  its  elenu-nts  without  a  correspfuuling  revolution  in 
the  rest.  Vegetarianism  has  many  advocates,  and  there  arc 
symptoms  of  gradual  progress  in  that  direction  since  the  days 
in  which  a  Homeric  hero  devoured  a  whoki  joint  of  meat  and 
the  bard  sang  of  the  work  of  the  shambles  with  as  nnudi  gusto 
as  he  sang  of  the  harvest  and  the  vintage.  It  is  certain  that 
most  people  eat  too  much  meat  and  are  the  worse  for  it,  though 
it  has  not  yet  been  proposed  on  that  account  to  shut  up  the 
butchers'  shops  ami  send  the  bntrhers  to  gaol.  Fermented 
drinks  may  be  discarded  and  cookery  with  them;  a  reiincd 
and  intellectual  world  may  bo  content  to  sustain  its  grosser 
l)art  with  bread  and  water  from  the  spring;  and  our  Christmas 
cheer  may  be  remembered  only  as  the  habit  of  primeval  sav- 
ages with  wonder  and  disgust.  ]?ut  in  questions  of  diet,  as 
has  already  been  said,  it   is  for  medical  science,  not  for  the 


IMIOIIIUITION   IN  CANADA  AND  THK  IINH'KD  STATKS. 


;ir.f> 


iisclves  bcni 
i'xist(>iu!(i   ol 

n  tliosc  who 
<»  li;iv(>,  tlit'ir 
ijoiity,  will 
icttlcrs,  hut, 
driven  from 
(•tlicr  ]\<^\i[, 
icriiiiiiiuics  ; 
11  iiusuitabli! 

ill,  KCM'lllS  to 

|>|u'ar  in  all 
'andiiiiiviiiii. 
)k(M-y,  which 
as  ol"  nuich 
-t  clianj,'(i  ill 
ititntions,  is 
1  coiiu!  sud- 
X  revolution 
ivoliition  ill 
(I  there  iin; 
leo  tho  d;iys 
d"  meat  and 
miudi  gusto 
certain  that 
)r  it,  th()ut;li 
sluit  up  the 

1^'ermented 
;    a  reiiiHMl 

its  grosser 
r  Christmas 
inieval  sav- 

of  diet,  as 
not  for  the 


i 


;i 


sentiment  of   the  platform  or   for    ndigious   enthusiasm,   to 
decide. 

\V(!  have  seen  how  in  Vermont,  Trohihitioniam,  oxasj)eratcd 
by    its    in(!vitid)le    f;iilun«,  lieuped    up   penal  enactnient.s,  :ind 
at  last  invaihfd  tin;  most  s:uuh!(I  lilxuties  of  the  <-iti/en  and  tin; 
sancituary  of  his   home.      It   is   the   tendency  of  all   tyranny, 
whether  it  be  that  of  a  sultan,  a  crowd,  a  se(!t,  or  a  party  (>f 
zealots,  when  it  linds  itself  balllt!d,  to  pile  on  fresh  severities 
instea.    (d'  rticonsidcring  the  wis(h)m  of  its  own  poli(!y.     Tro- 
hibitive  legislation  in  (Canada  has  not  failed  to  betray  tin;  same 
arbitrary  spirit.     Then^  is  a  (dause  in  tlu!  S(!ott  A(!t   (sec.  ]'J) 
setting  asid(>  tin^  common  legal  saleguards  of  inno(HMice.     It 
provides  "that  it  shall  not  be  necessary  for  the  informer  to 
depose  to  the  fact  of  the  sale  as  within   his  own  pcu-sonal  or 
certain  knowledge,  but  tho  magistrate*,  so  soon  as  it  appears 
to  him  that  the  circumstances  in  evidtMKU!  suiliciently  establish 
the  infraction  ol'  tin;  law,  shall  put  the  did'endant  on  his  de- 
fence, and  in   (hdault  of   his  rcbul,tal  of  smdi  evicUnuie  shall 
convict  him  accordingly," —eonvict,  him,  in  short,  and  send 
him  to  prison  on  hearsay,  if  in  the  opinion  of  the  magistrate, 
who  may  bo  a,  strong  ])artisa,n,  he  fails  to  prove  his  innoc(Mice. 
There  is  a  clause  (122)  recpiiring  a  man  Avhen   intcu-rogated 
respecting   previous  convictions  to  criminate   himself,  which 
seems  intendtnl  for  the  very  piiri)os(^  of  lin^eding  mendacuty. 
There  is  a  clause  (12.'})  comp(dling  husband  and  wife  to  give 
evidence  against   ea(di  other.     When  tlu*  wile   has  sent   the 
husband  to  ]u'ison,  what  will  th(>  wedlock  of  that  pair  thcnc(!- 
forth  b(!?     Which  of  the  two  is  the  greater  sin,  to  refuse  to 
give  evidence  under  tlu;  Scott  Act,  or  to  break  the  marriage 
vow,  which  bids  husband  and  wife  to  cherish  and  ])rotect  each 
other?     There  is  no  a])peal  on  the  merits   from  the  arbitrary 
decision  of  the  magistrate,  and  zealots  ha,v(!  not  been  ashanuid 
to  demand  in  the  plainest  terms  the  appointment  of  partisans 
to  the  bench.     It  n(>ver  occurs  to  them  to  consider  whether 
intemperance  itself  is  a  worse  vi(!e  than  injustice. 

The  treatment  of  the  hotel  and  tavern  keepcu-s  has  also  been 
utterly  iniquitous.     These  men  have  been  earning  their  bread 


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QUESTIONS   OF   THE   DAY. 


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I '   i 


by  a  trade  which,  when  they  entered  it,  was  not  only  licensed 
by  the  State,  but  deemed  by  everybody  perfectly  reputable ; 
aad  therefore  when  their  trade  is  suddenly  suppressed  they 
are  apparently  entitled  to  the  same  compensation  which  any 
other  trade  in  the  same  circumstances  would  receive.  But 
compensation  is  inconvenient  and  might  fatally  weight  the 
measure.  It  is  necessary,  therefore,  to  put  the  tavern-keeper 
out  of  the  pale  of  justice ;  and  to  do  this  pulpit  and  platform 
vie  with  each  other  in  kindling  popular  passion  against  him. 
He  is  represented  not  only  as  the  agent  of  a  traffic  to  which  it 
is  desirable  to  put  an  end,  but  as  a  criminal  and  the  worst  of 
criminals,  as  a  poisoner  and  a  murderer,  "steeped  to  the  elbow 
in  the  blood  of  civilisation."  Yet  money  made  by  the  poison 
which  he  sells  is  accepted  even  by  the  most  scrupulous  of  the 
Churches  for  its  religious  objects,  while  one  Church,  at  least, 
which  has  synodically  declared  for  total  Prohibition,  counts 
many  dealers  in  liquor  among  its  members. 

We  do  not  want  a  selfish  and  isolated  liberty.  Milton  him- 
self did  not  want  a  sellish  and  isolated  liberty ;  at  least,  he 
deliberately  sacrificed  his  eyesight  rather  than  decline  to  serve 
the  State.  But  after  all  this  struggling  against  the  paternal 
despotism  of  kings  and  popes,  we  do  want  a  reasonable  meas- 
ure of  freedom  and  of  self -development.  We  do  want  it  to  be 
understood,  as  the  general  rule,  that 


!'j   i! 


"  All  restraint, 
Except  what  wisdom  lays  on  evil  men, 
Is  evil." 

In  case  of  extremity,  such  as  war  or  plague,  we  are  of 
course  ready  for  strong  measures,  provided  they  are  effectual. 
Not  only  war  or  plague,  but  any  peril  of  such  a  kind  that  the 
State  alone  can  deal  with  it,  warrants  the  intervention  of  the 
State.  Nobody  would  desire  to  set  arbitrary  and  pedantic 
bounds  to  the  common  action  of  the  community  for  the  preser- 
vation of  the  wliole.  It  might  be  necessary,  and  therefore 
lawful,  to  close  the  taverns  of  the  nation,  were  the  nation 
becoming  the  hopeless  slave  of  drunkenness,  as  it  might  be 


PROHIBITION  IN  CANADA  AND  THi:  UNITED  STATES.    357 


ly  licensed 
reputable ; 
Bssed  they 
which  any 
eive.  But 
veight  the 
ern-keeper 
I  platform 
ainst  him. 
o  which  it 
e  worst  of 
the  elbow 
^he  poison 
ous  of  the 
1,  at  least, 
3n,  counts 

ilton  him- 
;  least,  he 
le  to  serve 
e  paternal 
ible  meas- 
nt  it  to  be 


necessary,  and  therefore  lawful,  to  close  the  race-tourses  if 
the  nation  were  becoming  the  hopeless  slave  of  turf-gambling. 
But  in  an  ordinary  way  we  submit  that,  whether  in  the  hands 
of  kings  or  majorities,  political  power  is  a  trust  held  for 
definite  purposes,  which  do  not  inchide  interference  with  your 
neighbour's  diet,  or  any  of  his  personal  habits,  any  more  than 
they  include  the  limitation  of  his  industry  or  the  confiscation 
of  his  property.  The  Prohibitionist  thinks  that  by  doing  a 
little  injustice  he  can  do  a  great  deal  of  good,  and  so  probably 
have  thought  all  tyrants  who  were  not  absolutely  insane. 

If  fanaticism  in  pursuit  of  the  one  cherished  object  tramples 
on  justice  and  natural  affection,  how  can  it  show  any  more 
regard  for  the  claims  cf  political  duty  ?  A  citizen  is  mani- 
festly bound  in  the  exercise  of  his  suffrage  to  consider  all  the 
qualifications  of  the  candidate  and  all  the  interests  of  the 
State.  But  Temperance  organisations  in  Canada  have  formally 
resolved  to  exclude,  so  far  as  they  can,  from  all  public  offices, 
even  from  that  of  a  school-trustee,  any  one  who  will  not 
pledge  himself  to  the  support  of  their  policy.  There  may  be 
other  issues  before  the  country  of  the  most  vital  importance, 
but  they  are  all  to  be  sacrificed  to  the  one  end  of  the  sect. 
The  man  may  be  qualified  in  every  respect  to  be  a  legislator  : 
he  may  even  be  a  total  abstainer ;  but  if  he  does  not  believe  in 
prohibitory  legislation,  and  refuses  to  submit  liis  conscience  to 
that  in  Avhich  he  does  not  believe,  he  is  to  be  excluded  from 
public  life,  and  the  State  is  to  be  deprived  of  his  services. 
On  the  other  hand,  the  most  transparently  dishonest  submis- 
sion is  accepted  as  a  title  to  support.  A.  fierce  electoral  con- 
test is  going  on  with  forces  evenly  balanced,  and  everybody  is 
in  doubt  about  the  result.  Suddenly  it  is  announced  that  one 
of  the  candidates  has  consented  to  take  the  Prohibition  jiledge. 
There  is  no  concealment  as  to  his  motive;  but  he  gets  the 
Prohibitionist  vote,  and  by  its  help  rides  in  over  the  head 
of  his  more  scrupulous  rival,  while  eminent  Christians  and 
religious  journals  applaud  a  triumph  gained  over  public 
morality  by  fraud  and  lying.  It  is  needless  to  say  that 
Prohibitionism  becomes  a  marketable  commodity  among  poli- 


358 


QUESTIONS  OF  THE  DAY. 


tioians,  and  furnishes  the  ladder  by  which  knavery  climbs  to 
the  mark  of  its  ambition.  It  is  now,  perhaps,  after  Irish  clan 
ship,  the  most  noxious  of  the  sectional  organisations,  the 
number  of  which  is  always  on  the  increase,  and  which  are 
destroying  the  character  of  the  citizen,  and  rendering  elective 
government  impossible  by  treating  the  State  as  an  oyster 
to  be  opened  with  the  knife  of  their  vote  for  their  own  par- 
ticular end. 

Once  more  then,  and  with  increased  emphasis,  let  U3  sug- 
gest that  before  the  British  Parliament  commits  itself  to 
prohibitive  legislation  it  should  send  a  Commission  of  Inquiry 
to  the  United  States  and  Canada,  or  at  least  wait  for  the  report 
of  the  Canadian  Commission  which  is  now  investigating  the 
subject,  and  which  embraces  in  the  scope  of  its  inquiry  not 
only  Canada  but  the  United  States. 


rri'^ 


mil 


climbs  to 
Irish  clan- 
tions,  tlie 
which  are 
g  elective 
m  oyster 
own  par- 


!i  •! 


i! 


t   U2 


SUg- 


itself  to 
-  Inquiry 
;he  report 
iting  the 
luiry  not 


** 


APPEISTDIX 


COMMUNISM  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


r 


Lfi 


a, 


<    < 


I     I 


Mi 

Hi 

.' 

HHilll 

i' 

^^^kh 

1' 

i 


THE  ONEIDA  COMMUNITY  AND  AMERICAN 

SOCIALISM. 


This  paper  appeared  in  the  Canadian  Monthly  of  November,  1874.  It  was  sug- 
gested by  a  visit  of  two  days  paid  by  the  writer  to  the  Oueida  Coinmuuity, 
then  under  the  Presidency  of  Mr.  Noyes.  Mr.  Noyes  has  since  died,  and 
his  death  proved  irreparable  to  his  Community. 


In  "History  of  American  Socialisms,"  by  J.  Humphrey 
Noyes,  founder  and  father  of  the  Oneida  Community,  we 
are  presented  with  an  instructive  enumeration  of  the  various 
socialistic  experiments  made  in  America,  chiefly  within  the 
last  fifty  years. ^  This  enumeration  furnishes  the  basis  for  an 
induction.  That  religious  communities  succeed,  while  the 
non-religious  invariably  fail,  is  the  inference  drawn  by  Mr. 
ISToyes,  whose  own  community  is  religious.  "The  one  fea- 
ture," he  says,  "which  distinguishes  these  (the  prosperous) 
communities  from  the  transitory  sort,  is  their  religion;  which 
in  every  case  is  of  the  earnest  kind,  which  comes  by  recognised 
afflatus,  and  controls  all  external  arrangements."  "It  seems 
then,"  he  adds,  "to  be  a  fair  induction  from  the  facts  before 
us  that  earnest  religion  does  in  some  Avay  modify  human 
depravity,  so  as  to  make  continuous  association  possible,  and 
insure  to  it  great  material  success." 

To  thr  writer  the  facts  suggested  a  different  conclusion; 
but  before  embracing  it  he  wished  to  see  the  Oneida  Com- 
munity.    The  Oneida  Community  is,  at  all  events,  not  afraid 

1  Mr,  Noyes  had  embodied  in  his  work  the  researches  of  Macdonald,  an 
ex-socialist,  who  devoted  himself  to  the  preparation  of  materials  for  a 
history  of  the  movement. 

361 


W'V^ 


b^ 


m 


QUESTIONS  OF  TIIK   DAY. 


of  being  soon.  The  writer  was  one  of  some  five  hundred  visi- 
tors in  the  month  of  .September  alone.  Upon  applying  for 
the  requisite  permission  lie  was  receiv«!d  with  the  most  courte- 
ous hospitality,  and  allowed  freely  to  satisfy  his  curiosity,  so 
far  as  the  shortness  of  his  visit  would  permit.  He  came  away 
confirmed  in  his  previous  opinion. 

Communities  of  steady,  sober,  and  industrious  workers,  held 
togetlier  by  a  religious  bond,  or  by  the  influence  of  a  vene'rated 
chief,  will   make  money;  if  they  have  no  separate  families 
there  will  be  no  family  interests  to  draw  them  apart;  if  they 
are  childless,  or  have  few  children,  their  money  will  accumu- 
late; their  wealth  will  become  a  new  bond,  but  will  at  the 
same  tune  put  a  stop  to  proselytisin,  so  that  the  extension  of 
the  community  will  be  limited  by  the  number  of  its  children, 
and  if  It  has  no  children,  it  will  become  extinct.     A  practical 
assurance   of  this    fact,   which   might   have   been   taken   for 
granted  without  any  experiment,  the  writer  believes  to  be  the 
net  upshot  of  the  eighty  experiments  which  have  been  made 
many  of  them  on  a  very  (mostly  scale.     In  other  words,  he 
^'eheves  that  the  law  of  success  or  failure  is  not  a  religious 
law,  but  an  economical  law,  and  one  of  the  most  commonplace 
kind.     The  utmost  that  religion  or  sentiment  of  any  sovt  has 
done  is  to  form  tlie  original  bond  of  union,  and  invest  the 
prophet-chief  with  the  necessary  power. 

If  religion  could  sustain  a  communistic  association,  success 
would  have  been  assured  to  Hopedale,  founded  at  lililford, 
Massachusetts,  in  1841,  by  about  thirty  persons  from  diiTerent 
parts  of  that  State,  under  Rev.  Adin  Ballon.  This  Commu- 
nity was,  to  use  Mr.  Noyes's  own  expression,  intensely  religious 
in  its  ideal.  In  the  words  of  its  founder,  it  was  "a  church 
of  Christ,  based  on  a  simple  declaration  of  faith  in  the  religion 
of  Jesus  Christ,  as  He  taught  and  exemplified  it,  according  to 
the  Scriptures  of  the  New  Testament,  and  of  acknowledged 
subjection  to  all  the  moral  obligations  of  that  religion."  No 
person  could  be  a  member  of  it  who  did  not  cordially  assent  to 
that  declaration.  It  was  "to  afford  a  beginning,  a  specimen 
and  a  presage  of  a  neAV  and  glorious  social  Christendom  —  a 


•^'^^p^p 


"^^■P^^i 


Al'J'ENDIX. 


nfi.'i 


grand  confodoratiou  of  similar  communities —  a  world  ulti- 
mately regenerated  and  Edenised. "  Nor  was  a  leader  wanting, 
for  Mr.  Jiallou,  besides  being  an  ardent  enthusiast,  was  evi- 
dently in  i)()int  of  ability  no  ordinary  man.  He  strove  hard  for 
success.  He  set  the  example  of  labour  by  working,  and  work- 
ing vigorously,  with  his  own  hands.  We  are  told  that  he  would 
sometimes  be  found  (ixhausted  with  labour,  ashM-p  on  the 
sunny  side  of  a  haycock,  and  that  the  only  r(!creati()n  he  had 
was  oc(!asionally  to  go  out  into  the  neighbourhood  and  preach 
a  funeral  sermon.  The  result,  however,  was  a  total  failure, 
which  Mr.  Ballon  ascribes  to  the  lack  or  tlie  decline  of  reli- 
gious enthusiasin,  but  which,  at  all  events,  assumed  a  decidedly 
economical  form.  Mv.  Ballon  was  supersiMhul  as  President  by 
Mr.  Draper,  wlio,  being  a  keen  business  num,  and  in  partner- 
ship with  a  brotlier  outside,  sacrificed  the  interests  of  the 
Community  to  those  of  his  firm,  got  three-fourths  of  the  stock 
into  his  own  hands,  and  ultimately  compelled  Mr.  Baliou  to 
wind  up. 

It  was  enough  to  ruin  Ho[)edale  that  it  accepted,  among 
other  Christian  principles,  that  of  "connuhiality,"  which  must 
have  created  separate  interests  and  have  prevented  the  accu- 
mulation of  money,  while  industry  was  probably  slackened  by 
want  of  the  full  stimulus  of  competition  and  by  reliance  on 
the  community.  Mr.  Draper  would  not  have  found  it  so  easy 
to  operate  on  the  stock  of  the  Oneida  Community  or  the 
Rappites, 

There  are  two  great  groups  of  experiments,  all  failures, 
which  Mr.  Noyes  characterises  respectively  as  Owenite  and 
Fourierist,  the  Owenite  utopias  being  founded  on  the  princi- 
ple of  Communism,  the  Fourierist  on  that  of  Joint-Stock 
Association,  though  the  two  principles  are  apt  to  run  into  each 
other,  and  it  is  difficult  to  say  exactly  to  which  class  any  par- 
ticular experiment  belongs.  The  two  fits  of  national  enthu- 
siasm, however,  seem  clearly  marked.  The  first  commenced 
with  the  visit  of  Robert  Owen  to  the  United  States,  in  1824, 
the  second  was  brought  on  twenty  years  later  through  the 
dissemination  of  Fourierism  by  Brisbane  in  Horace  Greeley's 
paper,  the  Neiv  York  Tribune. 


iUM 


CillKsriONS  <»K    11  IK    DAV. 


mi 


(fli 


N 


2Ji    I 


^ll 


(! 


"  I{()l)crl   Ow.Mi  is  11  rtMn:irk;il)It>  cluinirlcr.      In  yoars  nriirly 
H.«vcii|,v-liv,';   ill  knowlc'd^r,.  ;,,„i  ,.x|.(>ii(MM't'  siipt-riilMindiiut;  in 
Ih-iu-v,»1,-iicp    of    ii.'ail,    l.riiMscciKlcnlal  ;     in     li.Micsty    wit,li„ut, 
»lis,i,Mii.sc;  in  |)Iiil;inMin)|.y  uiiliiuiU'd;  in  ivli},'i(.n  a  sccpM,.,   j,, 
t.lif()l()j,'y  ii  I'anMi.'ist.;   in   inctai.hysics  a,  necessarian  ciicmn- 
8taiit.ialisl,;    in    morals   a   universal    (^xeiisioiiist;    in    general 
(^onduet  a.  jtliilosopliic^  non-resistant;  in  socialism  a,  Commn- 
nist;  in  hope  a  terrestrial  elysianist;   in  practical   l.nsincss  a 
niethodist;  in  deportment  an  nnecpiivocal  j,'entlcinan."     Siicli 
is  the  portrait,  drawn  l.y  the  sympathising  hand  of  a  fellow 
visionary,  ol'  tlu^  j^'ivat  Social    lieroriner  who  v/as  to  deliver 
the  world  Iroin  the  monstrons  trinity  of  man's  oppressors  — 
Private  or  Individnal  Prop(.rty,  Irrational  K'eli-ion,  and  their 
t'oncomitant.    Marriage.      Owen   ha.l  tried  or^Miiised  philan- 
thropy  in  Scotland;  hnt  for  (^)mmnnism   lu^  son^'ht  a  more 
littino;  cradle  amidst  the  wild   lands  and  cnuh'   ideas  of  the 
new  world.      He  was   received   with  enthusiasm;  the   Mail  o{' 
tho    IJepresentatives   al,   Washin-rton   uas  assi.^Mied  him  as  a, 
lecture  room,  and  the  President,  the   Pivsident  (de(-t,  all  th.t 
Judg(>s  or  the  Siiprenu^  Court  and  a  number  of  the  M(Mnl)crs 
of  Congress  were  anion-  his  hearers,  whihi  tln^  larj,'e  private 
fortune  which,  while  he  included  private  propiuty  in  the  tri- 
nity of  evil,  he  had  not  scrupled  to  retain,  furnishl'd  him  witli 
th(>  means  of  try  in-  his  experiment  on  the  la,r-(>st  and  most 
costly  scale.      He  i)urchased  a  line  property  of  ;{(),()()()  ;„.res  at 
Harmony,  in  Indiana,  just  vacated  by  tin/ liappites,  who  left 
behind  them  -ood  buildin-s  and  well  eultiva.ted  fudds,  .so  that 
"terrestrial  elysianism"    here   escaped   thi^   hardships   whicdi 
have  proved  fatal  ai,  once  to    Utopias    foiuuhul   in  the  wilder- 
ness.    Some  800  ])e,)pl(^  were  drawn  to-ether  by  the  i)rospeot 
of  unbounded  happiness.     In  the  course  of  ei-hteen  nioniiis 
New  Ilarnioiiy  had  scn^en  successive  constitutions.      About  a 
year  after  the   foundation,  "in  conse(|ucnce  of  a  variety  of 
troubles  and  disagreements,  chiefly  ndating  to  the  disjw.sal  of 
the  property,   a  groat  meeting  of  the  whole  population  was 
held,  and  it  was  decided  to  form  four  separate  societies,  each 
signing  its  own  contract  for  such  part  of  the  property  as  it 


"^^■^^^•^i^^f^fil 


Al'I'KNDIX. 


:i(tri 


sliiill    |iiiicli;i,sc,    and   cadi 


I   maiiaj,MiiK'   its  own  alTairH;  |>iil,  I 


tnidc  with  (Mtli  oMior  l)y  iKipcr  iiiom-y."  Mr.  (hvcii  had  tiol, 
shown  siilHcicnl,  coiirKh'iici^  in  his  <»wn  ihrory  to  f,riv(,  up  his 
h(.l(l  citht-r  on  i\u^  html  or  on  tho  \)o\vvr.  VV«i  arc  lo|<|  t,hi,,|, 
"ic  was  now  lH.-i„i,i„^r  |,„  ,„j,|^,.  _^|,,,,.|,  |,;,,.j,.ii„s  ^,^i,|,  ,|,„  j,„|,,. 

iiKincy,  and  no  douht,  hn 


1 

pendent,  (!onininnisl,s.     "  lie  h.id  lost, 


tried  to  re^'ain  sonit^  of  il,,  and  nsed  snci 


would  prevent,  I'nrlher  I 


I  means  as  he  Mion^dit, 


OSS."      Vrl,   h(t  chose   this   t.inie   I 


or  a 


s(»Icnin   re-proniiiljrat,ion  of  his  eoniinnnist,ic,  crticd   under  tho 
title  ol'  the  Dodamliim  of  Mcuhil  Imi 


I) 


rp<'ii.iU'ii(U'. 


is; 


T\ 


i.Ki-e(«inents  and  j(^alousies."     "Many    piir.sons   1 


(S'lvnif,'. 
or  a  eoninninity  of 


i(!   (UizeUc  shows  how  inipossiitlc!   it  is   I 
(ioinnion  propert,y  t,o  (!xist,  unless  tlu^  nciul 
ha,veac(iuired  the},'enuine  eoninninity  (diiuactcr."     "Althougl. 
there  was  an  appcaranc^c  <d"   incr(!ase<l   onh-r  and   happiness, 


lers  eoniprisiiif;  it 


yet  nial,l,ers  were  d rawing' to  a  v\ 


ose 


Owen  wa,s  sidling'  pro 


own  was  iiow 


|»(U'ty  to   individuals;  the  f,M-(!al,er  part  of  the  f 

ivsolved     in(,o     individual     Iot,s;    a    K''oe.ery    was    csl,;d)iishcd 

oppositt^  the   tavern;   pa,iid,ed   si-jn- hoards   l)c;^M,n   to   he  stu(d< 

ui)on  th<!  huildinj^rs,  pointinj^r  ,,ut  phiees  of  niiunil':i,eture  and 

trad 

ono  end  of  the  hoardinj^'-l 

into  the  old  sty  hi."     It  is  \is(d 

this   wreck  lurtiier.     'V\w  destructive;    I 


e;  a  sort  of  wax-li,i,nire  and  pupp(!t-show   was  opcMUid  at 

inse;  and  evcu-ythiu},'  was  K<'ttinj,' 


es.s,  ii,s  Mr.  Noycs  says,  t,()  loll 


ow 


whisky  sci-ni  t,o  have;  niin^'lcd  with  the;  rundanicnt,;i,l 


rc(;s   ol'  i();^nicry  and 


c:d)ilit,y  ol'  the  scduune  in  hrin<,M 
Owen  eonii)la,in(!d  that  las  ^r,,t  tl 


iMipracti- 


M^'  on   the  (inal  c:i,t,astrophe. 
le  \wvu\\\r  sort  of  people,  tli(« 


dishonest,,  the  intemperate,  tin;  idle,  the  apathetic,  tla;  sellisi 
instead   of   tla;    honest,   tla;    tcmpcrat,(;,   the    industrious 


a(!tiv(;-mindcd  and  the  s(df-sacril 


th 


leiii};.      I  hit  W(!  should  say  Ik 


K'ot  tho  ri^htsortof  p('o]dc  For  Ww.  purpo.s(!  of  asocial  relormer 


wl 


lo  undertakes  hy  the  ii,[)plication  of  I 


imman  natun!  ol'  il,s  vi(!(!sa,nd  transl'on 
of 


IIS   re^fimen   t,o   pur},'(j 


n  s()ci(;ty.     Tlu!  inv(!ntor 
I  patent  nuidicine  niijrht  as  W(dl  (complain  that  la;  jrot  the 


sick  and  not  tho  hcialthy  to  opcirai 


(!    O 


II.      One  of  the  (piali- 
ions  proscribod  by  Owcmi   for  the  members  of  Jiis  Com- 
munity was  a  conviction  of  the  fact  that  the  character  of  man 


ficat 


8M 


(■iUKSTIONS  OF  Till-;    DAY. 


m 


^i 


i-jni 


I 
I 


is  form.Ml  for,  :nul  not  l.y,  liinisolf.  Tlio  pnoplo  of  New  liar- 
mony  showed  practically  that  they  wero  fully  poss(!S«e(l  of  this 
qualification. 

Mr.  Owen  afterwards  bocamo  a  Spiritualist  and  a  Ixdicvor 
in  Special  I•rovidcnc(^  If  ho  had  been  so  before,  Mr.  Noycs 
seems  to  think,  the  result  of  the  experinu-nt  at  New  Harmon v 
would  have  been  different.  We  will  touch  on  this  point  here- 
after. Here  it  is  imi)ortant  to  notice  that,  whatever  niay 
have  been  his  theory,  Owen  did  not  attempt  any  practicil 
innovation  on  the  sul)jeet  of  marria-e;  at  least  he  did  not 
attempt  to  annihilate  the  separate  family  or  to  check  the  propa- 
gation of  children. 

'Another   great  experiment  on    Mr.  Owen's  principles  was 
made  at  Yellow  Springs,  in  Ohio,  the  present  site  of  Antioch 
College,  the  coeducational  university,  so  that  there  seems  to 
be  something  Ifadical  in  the  soil.     This  Community  consisted 
of  about  a  hundred  families,  and  included  professional  men, 
teachers,  merchants,  mechanics,   farmers,  and  a  few  common 
labour(>rs.     "  In  the  first  few  weeks  all  entered  into  the  new 
system  with  a  will.     Service  was  tha  order  of  the  day.     Men 
who   seldom   or    never    before   laboured    with    their    bands, 
devoted    themselves   to    agriculture    and   the    mechanic   arts 
with   a  zeal    which    was   always    commendable,     though    not 
always   according   to   knowledge.      Ministers   of   tlic  Gospel 
guided   the  plough;   called  tlie  swine  to  their   corn  instead 
of  sinners  to  repentance;  and  let   patience  have  her  perfect 
work  over  an  unruly  yoke  of  oxen.      Merchants  exchanged 
the   yard-stick    for   the    rake   or    pitchfork.      All  appeared 
to  labour  cheerfully  and  for  the  common  weal.     Among  the 
women  there  was  even  more  apparent  self-sacrifice.     Ladies 
who  had  seldom  seen  the  inside  of  their  own  kitchens  went 
into   that  of  the  common  eating-house  (formerly  hotel)  and 
made  themselves  useful  among  pots  and  kettles;  and  refined 
young  ladies,  who  had  all  their  lives  been  waited  upon,  took 
their  turn  in  waiting  upon  others  at  the  table.     And  several 
times  a  week  all  parties  who  chose,   mingled  in  the  social 
dance  in  the  great  dining-hall."     This   continued  for  three 


m» 


l^i^P 


wm 


AIM'KNDIX. 


;]«i7 


mo„ths.     Then  _  "  th.  in,l„»trio„s,  tl„.  sMIful.  and  tl,.  stron. 

.nn«olon„o.     A  hand  of  „u.sioi„„,  i„„i,to,|  t,„t  tlK,ir  hZv 
l.^";.""ny  was  as  ncoossary  to  tl,o  ,„„n,„o„  l,a|,|,i,„.,,  a»  ho-  a 

'   , '■•    ,'^,  ''^"'"■"■' ' "  '«ti"-al  ».!i.noo  insistod  upon  talki,,.. 

only  wlnlo  other,  worked.  Mcohaoio,,  whoso  ,lL"  hi,  ."r 
m,„,  t  two  donar,  into  tho  oonnnon  stook,  insist;Yt ha  Z 
«l|ouid  ,n  jnsfoe  work  oniy  hall'  a,,  ion«  a»  ti,„  asri„n it ,  t 
whoso  .lay's  work  brought  i,„t  one."  It  i,  ^tran,."  ti  at  t  ,„ 
word,,  shonW  have  been  written  hy  one  who  L  hirns  f  .^ 
Coinniuiust.  iiiiiisen  a 

VVith  New  Harn.ony  and  Yellow  SprinRs,  wont  to  "fl„f 
hmbo  near  the  n,„„„-  the  ghosts  of  a'u„d,  r  I  tl  r  ,abt 
t.ve  attempts  of  the  Owenite  cpod,.  The  hist.nT  of  tl  .7.U- 
«re  m  some  oases  is  traced,  an,l  it  is  elear  that  tl  e  resnlt  w.as 
dne  to  the  .rres-stiblo  aetion  of  the  eeonomic  laws  whi  ,  Iho 
projectors  had  nn,lortake„  to  supersede;  in  other  ca.,es  tl  e  enl 
.s  shronded  „,  pathetic  silcnee,  but  we  may  be  sure  t  at  the 
course  of  events  was  essentially  the  sanre.  'it  is  sad  to  thtak 
01  the  waste  of  earnest,  perhaps  heroic  effort,  and  of  the  dis- 

0  call  him  a  genius  of  the  Hrst  order  is  preposterous.     Oonins 
n  art  produces   high  works  of  imagination;  but  genius 
wo  M  It  t",     '"'?"  1°  ■»"-"-^'«  -oHcs,  and'eover  t 

::^  mt:;tt:;ft::r' '^"'^^  *"^  ^^"-^  °'  -■"«■■  — • 

That  any  one  in  hi.s  senses  should  have  followed  Fourier, 
has  always  seemed  to  us  one  of  the  most  curious  facts  in  t  e 
history  of  opmion.  This  visionary  believed  that  the  gr.and 
mn^take  and  the  source  of  all  disorder  and  misery,  was  Ihe 
habit  of  attenipting  to  restrain  onr  passions,  and  that  by  Z 
ting  them  all  loose,  and  giving  free  play  to  every  kind  of 
propensity  and  uliosyncrasy,  we  should  produce  complete  el  ' 

^   r  .?:";' Pf*"*'.-»°"y  -  -ciety.     His  plan  o'f  mateli 
teheity  IS  hallucination  verging  upon  lunacy.     To  m,atch  this 


368 


QJE.STIONS   OF   THH    DAY. 


I 


'I  ''■■^•' 

>     i!   ■ 


he  had  a  -philosophy  of  liistory  than  which  wikler  nonsense 
never  was  penned,  even  on  that  seductive  theme.  Never- 
theless, he  possessed  some  sort  of  electricitj  wliich  called 
into  activity  the  Utopian  tendencies  of  other  men.  About 
twenty  years  after  the  appearance  of  Owen,  the  conditions 
of  soil  and  atmosphere  in  the  United  States  being  then 
favourable  to  fungoid  growths,  a  crop  cf  P'ourierist  Phalanxea 
sprung  up  like  mushrooms,  and,  like  mushrooms,  died.  Tlie 
economical  reasons  of  their  death  are  such  as  common  sense 
would  at  once  suggest,  and  are  disclosed  with  almost  ludicrous 
distinctness.  "The  transition,"  says  Mr.  i^oyes,  always  clear- 
sighted, except  with  regard  to  his  own  peculiar  phase  of  the 
illusion,  "from  the  compulsory  industry  of  civilisation  to  the 
voluntary,  but  not  yet  attractive  industry  of  association,  is 
not  favourable  to  the  highest  industrial  effects.  Men  who 
have  been  accustomed  to  shirk  labour  under  the  feeling  that 
they  had  poor  pay  for  hard  work  will  not  be  transform.ed  sud- 
denly into  kings  of  industry  by  the  atmosphere  of  a  Phalanx. 
There  will  be  more  or  less  loafing,  a  good  deal  of  exertioo 
unwisely  applied,  a  certain  waste  of  strength  in  random  and 
unsystematic  efforts,  and  a  want  of  the  busiuess-like  precision 
and  force  which  makes  every  blow  tell,  and  tell  in  the  right 
place.  Under  these  circumstances  many  will  grow  uneasy, 
at  length  become  discouraged,  and,  perhaps,  prove  false  to 
their  early  love."  Mr.  Noyes  proceeds  to  say  that  these  are 
temporary  evils  and  will  pass  away.  They  may  be  suspended 
by  tiie  strong  hand  of  a  chief  lihe  Mr.  "Noyes,  but  they  will 
pass  away  only  with  human  nature. 

The  passionate  expressions  of  enthusiasm,  the  confident 
belief  that  under  Fourier,  "the  Columbas  of  social  discovery," 
the  caravels  of  enterprise  were  again  touching  the  shore  of  a 
new  world,  the  first  chilling  contact  with  the  inexorable  real- 
ity, the  struggle,  sometimes  a  gallant  one,  against  overmas- 
tering fate,  the  inevitable  break-up,  the  voice  of  faith  trying 
to  rise  triumphant  over  the  wreck  of  hope,  are  enough  to  touch 
any  heart  less  stern  than  that  of  an  economical  Rhadamantluis. 
But  comedy  is  mingled  with  the   tragedy.     A  scene  at  the 


*  •'^w^jrf    "ifti    »  V     . 


APPENDIX.  ^^ 

opening  of  the  Clen.ont  Phalanx  reminds  „s  of  one  in  "  Martin 
Ch„zzle..,t.''    "  There  ,vere  about  one  hundred  and  thirty  of  us 
The  ^veather  was  beautiful,  but  eold,  and  the  seenery  on  the 
nv-er™  splendid  i„  its  spring  dress.     The  various^art 
brought  the,r  provisions  with  them,  and  toward  noon  the  whole 
of  .„  was  collected  and  spread  upon  the  table  by  the  waiters 
for  all  to  l»ve  an  equal  chance.     But  alas  for  equality!     On 
the  meal  bemg  ready,  a  rush  was  made  into  the  cabin,  and  in 
a  few  mmutes  all  the  seats  were  filled.     In  a  few  minutes 
more  the  provisions  had  all  disappeared,  and  many  persons 
who  were  not  m  the  first  rush  had  to  go  hungry.     I  lost  mv 
dinner  that  day,  but  improved  the   opportuiUty  to  obserT-e 
and  criticise  the   ferocity  of  the   Fourierist  appetite."     At 
P  airie  Home  there  was  an  Englishman  named  John  Wood 
who  was  imperfectly  Fourierised.     John,  having  blaeked  his 
boots    put  away  the  brushes  and  blacking.     "Out  came  a 
Dutchman  and  looked  out  for  the  same  utensils.     Not    ^e  n! 
them,  he  asked  the  Englishman  for  the  'prushes.'    So  John 
brings  them  out  and  hands  them  to  him,  whereupon  the  Dutch" 
man  marches  to  the  front  of  the  porch,  and  in  wrathful  style, 
with  the  brushes  uplifted  in  his  hand,  he  addresses  the  assem 
b  ed  ,.owd:   .  ITc-ar!  lookee  he-ar!     Do  you  call  dis  con^uu- 
mty.     Is  ,hs  ,.„mmon  property?    See  he-ar!     I  ask  him  for 
de  prushes  to  plaeken  mine  poots,  and  he  give  me  de  pr"sl  es 
and  not  c^ve  me  de  plackingf"      Occasionally  we  catch  a 
ghmpse  of  the  form  of  a  speculating  Yankee  floating  iTke  a 
shark  among  the  flat  flsh,  with  „o  visionary  intention^.     The 
me.u,,ers  -  t^o  oommunities  generally  appear  to  have  been 

Sod,     H    '       ^  '"  ™'"""™  ""''''  ■""  =»*  *"-'  ™<i  of  the 

Sodus  t . .  experiment  we  are  told  that  "each  individual  helped 

hmsel  to  the  movable  properly,  .and  some  decamped  in  the 
night,  leaving  the  remains  of  the  Phalanx  to  be  disposed  of 
.n  any  way  which  the  last  men  might  choose  " 

Fouricrism  finally  staked  its  existence  on  the  success  of 
.^    North  ^ineriean  Ph-.aux,  which  was  planted  not  in  the 

Iderness  but  near  New  York  City.  This  Community,  co,^! 
s.sting  of  only  a  hundred  members  of  both  sexes,  stating 


if 


r.',,', 


^ 


370 


QUESTIONS   OF   THE   DAY 


'  '.r: 


i«! 


liMIH 


with  a  capital  of  f  28,000,  and  supported  by  the  dead-lift 
efforts  of  the  leaders  of  the  school,  dragged  on  its  existence 
for  twelve  years.  But  the  inevitable  did  not  fail  to  arrive. 
"Most  of  them,"  says  an  observer,  "are  decent  sort  of  people, 
have  few  bad  qualities  and  not  many  good  ones,  but  they  are 
evidently  not  working  for  an  idea.  They  make  no  effort  to 
extend  their  principles,  and  do  not  build,  as  a  general  thing, 
unless  a  person  wanting  to  join  builds  for  himself.  Under 
such  circumstances  the  progress  of  the  movement  must  neces- 
sarily be  slow,  if  ever  it  progress  at  all.  Latterly  the  num- 
ber of  members  and  probationers  has  decreased.  They  find  it 
necessary  to  (Employ  hired  labourers  to  develop  the  resources 
of  the  land."  The  powers  of  talking,  directing  others,  and 
grumbling,  were  found  to  be  possessed  in  a  high  degree  by 
those  who  had  little  power  of  work.  At  meals  the  best  of  the 
food  was  taken  by  those  who  had  stayed  at  home,  while  "  the 
swinked  hedger,"  coming  late  from  the  field  and  then  having 
to  wash,  got  the  worst.  Eighteen  hundred  was  Fourier's  pet 
number  of  members  for  a  Phalanx.  The  people  were  asked 
what  would  have  happened  if  the  North  American  Phalanx 
had  consisted  of  that  number :  they  answered  that  it  would  have 
broken  up  in  two  years. 

Brook  Farm  stands  by  itself,  and  Hawthorne's  "Blithedale 
Komance"  has  made  it  sufficiently  familiar  to  the  general 
reader.  It  would  be  an  injustice  to  call  it  "a  pic-nic,"  or  to 
say  that  "half  the  members  worked  while  the  other  half 
sketched  them  from  the  windows."  It  was  a  little  Boston 
Utopia,  in  which  a  number  of  men,  afterwards  notable  in  the 
intellectual  world,  sowed  their  philosophic  wild  oats,  and 
gratified  the  literary  man's  fancy  for  manual  labour,  sharpen- 
ing their  wits  no  doubt  at  the  same  time  by  intercourse  with 
each  other.  If  they  seriously  believed  that  men  trained  to 
work  with  the  brain  could,  witli  advantage  to  themselves  or 
to  society,  take  to  Avorking  with  their  hands,  they  were  the 
victims  of  a  strange  illusion.  The  effective  combination  of 
manual  with  mental  labour,  as  a  system,  is  impracticable. 
Both  draw  on  the  same  fund  of  nin-vous  energy,  which,  when 
drained  by  one  sort  of  labour,  is  unable  to  supply  the  other. 


dead-lift 
existence 
io  arrive. 
^t  people, 
b  they  are 

effort  to 
ral  thing, 
'.  Under 
list  neces- 
the  num- 
ley  find  it 
resources 
jhers,  and 
iegree  by 
lest  of  the 
-hilr  "the 
en  having 
Tier's  pet 
ere  asked 
L  Phalanx 
ould  have 

Blithedale 
le  general 
lie,"  or  to 
)ther  half 
le  Boston 
ible  in  the 
oats,  and 
,  sharpen- 
)urse  with 
drained  to 
aselves  or 
•  were  the 
ination  of 
racticable. 
lich,  when 
the  other. 


APPENDIX.  g^j 

Mr.  Noyes  is  of  opinion  that  among  the  causes  of  failure  in 
all  these  cases,  was  the  universal  propensity  to  invest  in  land 
and  engage  in  the  business  of  farming.  Factories,  he  thinks 
are  more  suitable  for  communistic  experiments.  But  surely' 
if  the  afflatus  is  the  decisive  thing,  the  investment  ought  not 
to  be  of  so  much  consequence. 

With  the  principles  of    common  property   or  associated 
labour,  there  mingled  in  these  Utopias  all  the  other  chimeras 
and   fanaticisms    of    the    day :- Individual    Sovereignty  — 
Labour  Exchange  -  Paper  Currency  -  Transcendentalism - 
Swedenborgianism  —  Vegetarianism  —  Blumerism  —Woman's 
Rights  —  Anti-domestic-servantism  —  Spiritualism.       Every- 
thing impracticable,  in  short,  came  to  find  a  place  for  putting 
Itself  m  practice  outside  the  conditions  of  existence,    Mr 
Noyes  traces  the  connection  of  Socialism  with  religious  revi- 
vals, and  shows  that  people  who  were  preparing  their  Ascension 
robes  were  the  unconscious  harbingers  of  the  Fourierist  move- 
ment.    The  Skeneateles  Community  had,  as  one  of  the  articles 
of  Its  programme,  "a  disbelief  in  the  rightful  existence  of  all 
governments  built  upon  physical  force,"  and  proclaimed  "that 
they  were  organised  bands  of  banditti,  whose  authority  was 
to  be  disregarded";  that  it  would  not  vote  under  such  govern- 
ments, or  petition  to  them,   but  "demanded  that  they  should 
disband";  that  it  would  do  no  military  duty,  pay  no  taxes, 
sit  on  no  juries,  give  no  testimony  in  "courts  of   so-called 
justice";  that  "it  would  never  appeal  to  the  law  for  a  redress 
of  grievances,  but  use  all  peaceful  and  moral  means  to  secure 
their  complete  destruction."     The  relation  between  the  sexes 
was  of  course  one  of  the  fields  for  innovation.     Robert  Dale 
Owen  carried  not   only  the   law  separating  the  property  of 
married  women  from  that  of  their  husbands,  but  the  divorce 
law  of  Indiana.     As  a  general  rule,  the  mother  of  all  these 
"notions"  was  New  England,  who  will  have  to  take  care  that 
she  does  not  become  as  great  a  source  of  mischief  to  this 
continent  as  South  Carolina,  though  in  a  different  way. 

The  failures  we  have  seen.     Now  what  were  the  successes, 
and  what  was  the  reason  of  their  success.     Was  it  afflatus, 


372 


QUESTIONS  OF  THE   DAY. 


i  .1  • 


or  something  more  commonpliuie?  Tlie  list  dravvu  up  by  Mr. 
iNoyes  in  1870  is  as  follows : 

BeizeVs  Communihj.  ■—  Has  lasted  one  hundred  and  tifty-six 
years;  was  ut  one  time  very  rich;  has  money  at  interest  yet; 
some  of  its  grand  old  buildings  are  still  standing. 

The  Shahn-  Community.  —  Has  lasted  ninety-five  years. 
Consists  of  eighteen  large  societies,  many  of  them  very 
wealthy. 

The  Zoar  Commnnity.  —  Fifty -three  years  old  and  wealthy. 

The  Snoioberger  Community.  —  Forty-nine  years  old  and 
''well  off." 

The  Ebenezer  Community.  —  Twenty-three  years  old,  and 
said  to  be  the  largest  and  richest  Community  in  the  United 
States. 

The  Jamison  Community. — Twenty -three  years  old  and 
wealthy.  , 

The  Oneida  Community,  which  is  also  a  commercial  success, 
we  omit  for  the  present,  undertaking  hereafter  to  show  tliat  its 
case  is  covered  by  our  induction. 

All  the  communities  enumerated  are  religious.  But  they 
are  not  the  only  religious  communities.  Hopedale,  as  we 
have  said,  was  religious  in  the  liighcst  degree,  and  its  re- 
ligion Avas  a  better  one  than  that  of  these  ignorant  and 
fanatical  little  sects.  Even  the  spirit-rapping  communities 
might  claim  to  be  placed  on  a  level,  in  tlie  spiritual  scale, 
with  the  saltatory  religion  of  Shakers.  But  Hopedale,  as 
we  have  seen,  was  strongly  Conservative  with  regard  to 
marriage.  That  which  is  at  oncie  common  to  all  tlie  suc- 
cessful communities,  and  peculiar  to  them,  is  the  rejection  of 
marriage,  whereby  in  the  first  place  they  are  exempted  from 
the  disuniting  influence  of  the  separate  family;  and  in  the 
second  place,  they  are  enabled  to  accumulate  wealth  in  a  way 
which  would  be  impossible  if  they  had  children  to  maintain. 

The  members  of  Beizel's  Community  are  strict  celibates; 
so  are  the  Shakers;  so  are  the  Eappites;  so  are  the  Snowber- 
ge!'S.  The  Ebenezers  permit  marriage  "when  their  guiding 
spirit  consents  to  it";  but  the  parties  have  to  undergo  some 


APPENDIX. 


873 


public  mortification;   and  the  Community  at  its  foundation, 
to  meet  the  difficulties  of  the  struggle,   resolved  that  for  a 
given  number  of  years  there  should  be  no  increase  of  their 
population  by  births,  which  resolution  was  carried  into  eliect. 
Among  the    Zoarites,  marriage   is   now  permitted.     But  we 
are  told  that  at  their  first  organisation  it  was  strictly  forbid- 
den, not  from  religious  scruple,  but  as  an  indispensable  mat- 
ter of  economy;  that  for  years  no  child  Avas  seen  within  their 
village;  and  that,  though  the  regulation  has  been  removed, 
the  settlement  retains  much  of  its  old  character  in  this  re- 
spect.    The  Jansonists,  though  they  do  not  forbid  marriage, 
hold  that  a  "life  of  celibacy  is  more  adapted  to  develop  the 
life  of  the  inner  man."    In  fact  these  associations  are  not 
so  much  communistic  as  monastic,  and  belong  to  a  class  of 
phenomena  already  familiar  enough  to  economical  history. 

The  Rappites,  a  set  of  enthusiasts  who  expected  the  speedy 
advent  of  the  Millennium,  called  their  first  two  settlements 
Harmony.  Their  third,  by  a  significant  change  of  name,  they 
called  Economy.  They  are  not  only  wealthy,  but  millionnaires 
of  the  first  order.  We  are  not  surprised  to  learn  that  they 
do  not  proselytise,  though  converts  enough  might  undoubtedly 
be  found  to  a  doctrine  even  more  extravagant  than  Rappism, 
if  It  were  endowed  with  twenty  millions.  The  Silver  Islet 
Company  would  be  about  as  likely  to  desire  proselytes.  ^ 
Those  who  have  visited  the  Community  report  that  all  its 
members  are  advanced  in  years.  The  end  of  Rapp's  Millen- 
nium IS  in  fact  a  tontine,  which  will  terminate  in  a  Rappite 
Astor. 

We  are  far  from  saying  that  in  these  cases  the  religion  had 
nothing  to  do  with  the  result.  It  collected  and  united  a  body 
of  enthusiasts,  whose  very  fanaticism,  being  of  the  coarsest 
kind,  was  a  guarantee  for  their  belonging  to  a  class  accus- 
tomed to  manual  labour  and  to  submission;  it  helped  to  hold 
them  together  through  the  first  struggle  for  subsistence;  and, 
what  was  perhaps  the  most  impor^:.;  ;it  point  of  all,  it  led  them 

1  When  this  was  written  the  Silver  Islet  on  Lake  Superior  was  yielding 
immense  riches. 


•  1»«*«r^«*«AW|*« 


Iff 


I  ;*■ 


I' 


.'174 


QUKSTIONS   OF  TIIK    DAY. 


to  render  implicit  obiMlicnco  to  a  proplu-t-chid',  who,  whether 
fanatic  or  impostor,  was  pretty  sun^  to  b,.  an  abk;  man.  The 
aseenilaney  of  the  pr(,ph(>t-chief  is  evidcuitly  the  mainsprinL^ 
ot  Mormonism,  which  is  als(,  a  gn>a,t  material  snccess.  liut 
we  very  much  donbt  wh(>th(!r  even  tiie  strong  hand  of  lirig- 
ham  Vonng  eculd  h.hl  together  for  a  year  a  Utah  combining 
the  separate  lanuly  and  free  propagation  of  children  with 
eommunity  of  goods. 

The  Oneida  Community,^  a  visit  to  which  suggested  the 
subject  oi  tins  paper,  was  founded  in  1847,  by  the  Kev   John 
Humphrey  Noyes,  a  man  whose  ability  is  written  on  his  brow 
on  the  pages  of  his  vigorously-wriHen  books,  and  on  the  work 
ol   his  organ.siug  hands.      He  was,  by  his  own  confession,  a 
iv  igious   enthusiast   of   the  wildest  i,,nd   most  erratic  kind 
Libertinism  he  has  not  confess(ul,  though  by  loosi,  and  sensa- 
tional versions  of  his  words,  it  has  been  macU,  to  a,ppear  that 
he  has  done  so.-=     The  form  of  religi.ms  (mthusiasm  in  which 
he  ultimately  landed  was  JWfn-tioni.wi.     Tlie  gist  of  tlie  JVr- 
fectionists'  cnu'd,    if  we  riglitly  c.mpnd.end  it,   is  tliat  the 
second  coming  of  Christ  took  pla.n.  in  the  lifetime  of  St.  John- 
that  the  reign  of  Law  in  every  sense  then  iinally  g:,,v(,  place  tJ 
that  ot  the  Spirit;  that  now,  the  believer  united  with  Christ 
and  "confessing  holiness,"  is  above  all  ordinances,  including 
the  ordinance  of  marriage,  and  p(u-fectly  free  from  sin.     This 
sounds  like  Antinomianism,  but  we  are  told  that  it  is  only 
"anti-legahty."     At  all  events  it  is  not  tlie  professed  belief  of 
the  Perfectionists  that  one  of  their  number  cannot  do  wron- 
There  is  a  series  of  subordinate  articles,  some  of  them  higldy 
mystical,  while  others,  introducing  Spiritualism,  have  proba- 
bly been  grafted  on  the  religion  since  its  first  promulgation. 

1  Shice  this  was  written  Mr.  Noyes,  then  at  the  head  of  the  Community 
has  died.  ■'' 

-  An  incident,  however,  wliioh  is  related  by  Mr.  Noyes  himself  in  the 
Oneida  Circular,  and  which  occurred  in  184G,  indicates  plainly  enough 
that  a  case  of  elective  aflinities  was  the  immediate  source  of  his  theory 
about  the  relations  between  the  sexes,  and  of  his  practical  application 
ot  that  theory  in  the  Oneida  Connnunity. 


AIM'KNDrx. 


.175 


Tho  ]5,l,lo  IS  implicitly  rmMvc.l,  tlioii-h  with  INTfootionist 
iiitori)r(,ta,ti<.nH.  SccpticiHin  i.s  dmimucvd.  M„(,|,  i„  ,„;ul,.  ..f 
spocuil  interpositions  of  I'rovidcMuus  'Uu\  ol'  Providcntiul 
''signals  "  Form  of  worship  tlu,  l\,rlocti()nists  huv.,  nom,. 
Ihoy  only  (..onlVss  (!l,rist  h.Jorr.  v.w.U  oth.-r,  an.l  conMnnnicitc 
rrhgious  tlM.nght  in  their  lanuly  gatluM-ing.  Th.  Suhlath  is 
not  (hstingnislu.,!  from  tho  week  ..x,u,pt  l.y  ..ssation  Ironi 
work,  ihis  roligio,,  is  proclaim..,!  to  1..,  still  tho  hon.l  of 
union  among  tho  nuMnbcrs  of  thciCommnnity.  Th.^y  will  toll 
you  that  thoy  ar.i  hold  togothor  l.y  Kathor  Noyos'  lov.!  (,f 
Christ,  and  hy  th.dr  love*  of  Kath.M-  Noyces. 

ThoCommunity  at  Onoida  nnmhors  two  himdrod       A\  Wil- 
low Plaoo,  on  a  (h^taoluul  portion  of  tho  samo  ,h„Ma.in,  aro  nine- 
teen more;  and  there  are  forty-live  in  a  hranoh  at  Walling- 
ford   (.V)nnooticut.     All  these  aro  supposed  to  .;onstitut(.  ono 
lamily,  with  the  founder  as  fathcu-.     The  prop.M-ty  is  held  in 
common;  there  aro  no  sc^parate  interests,  ineom,^s,  or  allow- 
ances whatever.     Tho  several  nuMuh.-rs  of  the  family  are  pre- 
sented with  su(di  money  as  they  may  r.wpnn*   fn.m  time  to 
time,  just  as  children  aro  furnished  with  po.tket  mon,-y  l,y  their 
parents,  the  only  restriction  bi-ing  family  duty.     The'  other 
characteristic  feature  of  the  system  is  on(,  whicl,  it  is  dillieult 
to  describe  in    language   at  (,n.to  nu.isur.'d  and    ad(u,uat(dy 
expressive  of  the  feelings  of  r..pugnano<,  with  which   it  must 
be  regarded  by  every  one  who  a.'knowh.dg.'s  tho  Ohristian  rule 
of  morals.     The  marria,g(!  tic^  is  tota,lly  disc^ardod.     The;  male 
and  female  members  of  the  Community  pair  with  each  other 
for  a  time,  and  for  a  time  only;  not  promiscuously,  l)ut  under 
the  authority  of  the  Com  nam  ity,  which  appears  to  be  guided 
in  regulating  these  matters  partly  by  tin,  policy  of  r.-straining 
the  increase  of  its  numbers,  partly  by  physical  rules  connected 
with  what  is  styled  tho  scientific   jn-opagation   of  diildren 
The  initiative  is  assigned  to  the  woman,  who  makes  it  known 
to  the  authorities  when  she  is  willing  to  l,ecome  a  mother 
She  is  not  permanently  wedded  to  one  partner,  but  may  have 
two  or  three  in  succession.     So  that  the  "  permaneiuto  "  predi- 
cated of  Oneida  unions,  in  the  Circular,  must  have  reference 


376 


QUKSriONS  OF  THE   DAY. 


;|l 


. 


not  to  the  iiulividuul  parties,  but  to  the  family  aggregate 
The  parental  relation  is  not  ignored,  but  it  is  merged  in  the 
Community,  the  children  being  brought  up  together  as  brothers 
and  sisters  in  common  nurseries.  Tiiere  are  certain  supple- 
mentary portions  or  the  system  which  its  inventor  is  in  the 
habit  of  bringing  without  reserve  before  the  public,  but  over 
which  ordinary  sentiment  enjoins  us  to  draw  a  veil. 

During  tlie  early  years  of  the  Community  few  children  were 
born  to  it,  though  of  late,  and  apparently  in  connection  with 
the  growth  of  its  wealth,  the   number  of  births   has   been 
allowed  to  increase.     And  thus  we  have  again  the  two  fami- 
liar and  simple  conditions  of  success,  exemption   from  the 
disuniting  influence  of  the  separate  family,  and  the  facility 
for  the  accumulation  of  wealth  attendant  on  the  absence  or 
paucity  of  children.     Communism,   in  tine,  can  be  rendered 
practicable  only  by  a  standing  defiance  of  morality  and  nature. 
In  the  case  of  the  Oneida  Community  the  measure  of  com- 
mercial success  has  been  large.     A  strong  business  head  has 
controlled    its  financial  operations    as   well  as    its   internal 
economy.      The   prin(ui)le    that   afflatus   eschews    land    and 
delights   in   factories  lias  been  carried  into  effect  with  the 
most  gratifying  result.     The  Community  owns  a  farm  of  650 
acres,    higlily  cultivated,   round  its   mansion;   but   its  chief 
investments,  and  the  source  of  its  opulence,  are  three  factories, 
—  one  of  traps,  one  of  silk  goods,  and  one  of  canned  fruit. 
The  trap  factory,  which  seems  a  singular  line  of  business 
to  be  chosen  by   Perfectionism,    is  a  monument    of  one  of 
the  original  members  of  the  Community,  who  was  a  trapper 
and  a  maker  of  traps.     The  canned  fruit  of  Oneida  enjoys  the 
highest  reputation,  and  we  do  not  doubt  the  truth  of  the 
assertion  that  the  business  might  be  greatly  extended  if  the 
Community  chose  to  borrow  capital.     Manual  labour,  though 
not  repudiated  by  members  of  the  Community,  as  the  writer 
can  testify,  is  now  chiefly  performed  by  hired  hands,  of  whom 
there  are  about  150  in  the  factories,  besides  some  negroes  em- 
ployed in  the  coarser  housework.     The  members  of  the  Com- 
munity, as  a  general  rule,  are  now,  like  other  capitalists,  the 


AIM'KNDIX. 


877 


enip byers  and  chreotors  of  labour.  They  arc  apparentlv  good 
eniployors,  and,  .n  .asn  of  any  atte.apt  to  disturb  tluun  'on  the 
ground  of  their  deHan(.e  of  established  n.orality,  they  feel 
secure  in  the  attaclnnent  of  the  people  around  then.,  niny  o 

^'uZl  H^''  "":  !'"^'"'  "--«-"ts.  It  is  a  remark- 
.ible  p  oof  of  the  conhde.ice  of  the  Coninmnity,  both  in  its 
own  cohesiveness  and  in  its  ability  to  face  scrutiny,  that  it  has 
ventured  to  send  several  of  its  young  men  to  ^e  Scientih" 

scientihe  element  requisite  for  its  manufacturing  purposes. 

lie  mansion  IS  a  spacious  and  handsome  range  of  l^uildings, 
fitted  up  simply,  but  with  every  comfort.     Its  ,)ublic  rooms 
are  a  double  dining-hall,  a  large  parlour,  with  aita,'  f    T 
gatherings  and  amusements  of  the  whole  family,  and  other 
l^r  ours  for  the  meeting  of  smaller  circles.     iLnd  it  ar 
well-kept  grounds,  to  which   the   Community  admits  neigh- 
bours and  visitors  with  liberality  which  must  somewhat  inter- 
lore  with   the   purposes   of   its   own   enjoyment.     With   the 
charms  of  green  lawns,  shady  walks,  and  gay  flower-beds,  are 
combined  views  of  a  valley,  which,  in  its  rich  cultivation  and 
the   soft  otrtlines   of  the   hills  surrounding  it,   reminds  the 
traveller  of  England.      There  are  croquet   grounds,    which 
appear  to  be  in  constant  use.     A  few  miles  off,  by  the  side  of 
u  lake,  the  Community  has  a  hunting-box,  called  Joppa,  to 
which  excursions  are   frequently  made.     Pleasure  evidently 
has   its  due   place  among  the  objects  of  existence,  and   is 
organised  with  care  and  on  a  liberal  scale.     Teams  in  suffi- 
cient number  appeared  to  be  at  the  service  of  the  brethren 
Music  IS  much  cultivated,  and,  by  a  refinement  of  humanity," 
the  practising  room  is  a  separate  building,  at  some  distance 
ti-om  the  mansion.     In  winter,  intellectual  pursuits  and  self- 
culture  are  the  order  of  the  day.     The  writer  was  told  that 
an  old  lady  had  taken  up  Greek  and  acquired  the  power  of 
reading  the  New  Testament  in  the  original  tongue 

The  library  is  furnished  with  books  of  all  kinds,  and  New 
York  papers  are  on  the  table.  The  Community,  however, 
IS  politically  quietist,  and  its  members  never  vote.     Politi- 


i 


378 


QUKSTIONH  OF  THE   DAY. 


/I' 


I    1 


r 


cal  divisions  might  disturh  tlir  family,  tliongli  the  writer  was 
told  that  tlui  mciidH'rs  wcni  all  in  spirit  New  Kngland»«rs,  mid 
would  vot(>  with  tJHi  R('|)ul)lii'iin  party.  Th«>y  csc^aixHl  tlio 
military  dralt  through  the  ««rror  ol'  two  oHidials,  eiudi  ol' 
whom  supposed  tho  Comumnity  to  be  in  the  jurisdietion  of  the 
other. 

"This  reform  nutans  tnmaers,"  said  a  female  advoeate  of 
Woman's  Uights  the  otlier  day  in  the  United  States.  The 
ladies  of  tho  Oneida  Comnnnnty  have  adoj)ted  tiui  Hlnmer 
eostunu',  tlumgh  in  a  mitigatcul  form.  Mr.  Ilepworth  Dixon 
has  reeorded  his  opinion  tiiat  this  dress  is  becfoming.  He 
eonld  hardly  extend  his  eommendation  to  the  praetieo  of  eut- 
ting  tlie  hair  short  in  male  fashion,  whieh  is  also  universal 
among  the  Oneida  ladies;  at  least,  if  ho  did,  we  should  he 
unable  to  agree  with  him. 

Cookery  is  not  didegated  to  inferior  hands,  but  don*!  by 
those  of  the  I'erfeetionists  themselves.  The  fare  is  sijuple 
but  most  exeellent.  There  appear  to  be  no  rigorous  ordi- 
nances about  diet.  As  a  matter  of  habit  and  taste,  meat  is 
sparingly  eaten,  but  vegetarianism  is  not  enjoined.  Stimu- 
lants are  banished  from  the  board,  but  the  use  of  them  is  not 
morally  proscribed;  at  least  they  are  offered  to  a  guest. 
Tobacco  is  denounced  by  Father  Noyes.  One  of  the  brethren 
was  living  entirely  on  brown  bread  and  baked  apples,  at  an 
expense  to  the  Community,  as  he  reckoned,  of  twelve  cents  a 
day.  But  this  was  voluntary,  and  the  motive  was  dietetic;. 
While  there  is  no  appearance  of  luxury,  asceticism  is  equally 
unknown. 

Among  the  members  of  the  Community  are  persons  of 
various  social  grades  and  degrees  of  education  —  ex-clergymen 
and  ex-lawyers,  as  well  as  mechanics;  though  there  must 
obviously  be  a  limit  intellectually  to  the  class  disposed  to 
believe  in  Perfectionism  and  Father  Noyes.  If  you  ask  how 
order  and  harmony  are  preserved  in  so  large  and  so  heteroge- 
neous a  family,  the  all-sufficing  answer  is,  through  the  institu- 
tion of  mutual  criticism.  Every  member  of  the  Community, 
in  turn,  is  compelled  thus  to  submit  himself  to  the  organised 


ArpKNnrx. 


.■!7ft 


iiifliioiico  of  wwiiil  opinion,  in  ordor  Uini,  lio  may  bo  warned  of 
hiH  S(.(Mal  faults  and  oonHf,iain(Ml  l.o  addinss  liiniH(df  to  ilicir 
<'ui(«.    'ri.c.  author  of  "  Now  Anu'ri(!a"  had  thn  ^ood  fortun.'to 
wit,n(^ss  ono  of  thoH(f  .sii.Kuiar  operations,  whi(^h  at  that  tin.o 
wcio    performed  in   th«!  Ki-eat  parh.ur  hy   the  (Jommunity  at 
lar^'e.     Hut  the  duty  has  since  bi'ctn  (hdej,'ated  to  a  Committcin 
of  Oritieism,  whicih  summons  before  it  th(!  person  to  he  criti- 
cised, toK<ither  with  thosc^  who  aro  most  intimate  with  him 
a,nd  host  (pialitied  to  point  out  his  defects.      It  is  assert(!d  that 
the  systiMu  perfectly  answcM-s  its  purpose,  and  that  at  the  same 
time  it  has  the  effect  of  l)anishinK'  from  the  Community  irre^'u- 
hir  hackbitiiif,'  and   mah^vohMit  h)vo  of  sciund;.!.      It,  m:i,y  bo 
donl)ted,  perhaps,  whether  this  or  any  otli<-r  gentle  instrument 
of  government  would  work  so  well   if  within  the;  velvet  kIovo 
were  not   fcdt   the   iron   hand  of   Fatlmr   Noyes,   though   tho 
members  of   tho  Community   spoak    with    eonlidenco   of  tho 
self-sustaining   power  of    tho   systcsm,   and    profess   to    look 
forward  without  foar  to  a  demise  of  the,  paternal  crown. 

To  i)roservo  tho  unity  of  tho  family,  all  thc^  mciubers  aro 
assend)led   for  an  hour  every  evening  in  the  great  {)arlour. 
Matters  of  interest  to  the  whole  Community  aro  then  brought 
forward  and  discussed,  correspondence  is  read,  sympathy  is 
expressed  with  the  sick,  professions  of  religious  sentiment  aro 
exchanged.     To  give  the  assembly  a  domestic  air,  three  or 
four  tables  were  disposed  over  the  room  with  groups  of  women 
at  work  around  them.     But  it  would  not  do.     The  assembly 
was  not  a  family  circle:  it  was  a  meeting,  though  a  meeting 
of  people  agreed  in  conviction,  and  well  acquainted  with  each 
other.     In  the  very  unanimity  of  opinion  and  sentiment  thoio 
was  an  undomestic  ring.    In  the  same  manner  the  repasts  in  tho 
common  hall  lack  the  character  of  a  family  meal.     Dinner  is 
a  table  d'hote,  at  which  those  who  partake  of  it  do  not  even  sit 
down  together,  but  separately,  each  when  he  pleases,  between 
certain  hours,  just  as  they  do  in  a  hotel.     And  this  was  the 
general  impression  made  on  the  writer  by  what  he  saw  of 
Oneida.     He  felt  that  all  the  time  lie  was  in  a  great  hotel,  an 
hotel  where  people  boarded  all  the  year  round,  and  were  on 


H80 


QiTKsrioNs  OF  tfif:  da  v. 


w 


friondly  forms  with  cvu'li  f,tl„.r,  hut  still  .■„,   hoi.-l  .-n..!  n..f   •,, 
hoin...      M<-nti(.n  has  bo.M.  aliriuly  luu.h-  oF  tho  .Icparturn  In,,,. 
the  original  institution  of  family  ..riticisn,,  un,l  tlm  (h-l.-^Mti,,,, 
to  a  committof  of  tlu,  function,  ..nc„  pcrformc.l  by  the  Commu- 
nity at  lai-.  .      This  is  ol.vicuisly  u  symptom  of  (lisintcLTi- 
tion     vvlul..  tho   immssity  u,,,!,-,-  whi(,h   tlu.  committ,'.  ihuh 
itsolt  of  summoning;  spoc-ial  vvitnessos  proves  that  within  the 
groat  circle  „f  the  Community  innor  social  circles  arc  f<,rm,.,l 
In  t^.v^t,  without  some  miraculous  enlargement  of  the  .•anfr..  ■,'[ 
uiman  affections,  it  is  absurd  to  talk  of  forming  a  family  ni 
two  hundrcl  people.     They  may  bo  under  the  same  paternal 
despotism,  but  they  can  be  a  family  iu  no  other  sense  of  the 
term.     To  p,-eserv.>  the  do.uestii.  unity  of  the  three  establish- 
ments, Oneida,  Willow  J'lace,  and  Wallingford,  will  be  still 
more  beyond  human  power. 

The  children,  as  has   been   already  said,   are  regarded  ns 
children  of  the  Community,  and  are  brought  up  together  on 
that  footing.     rh(.  mother  is  allowed  to  take  part  in  nursin- 
them  as  much  as  she  pleases,  but  she  is  not  required  to  do 
more      Undeniably  they  are  a  tine,  healthy-looking,    n,errv 
set  of  infants.     But  we  need  not  jump  f,-om  this  fact  to    t 
cone  usion  in  favour  of    Scientific  J'ropagation,   an,l  all   it's 
repulsive  incidents.     The  Oneida  children  are  reared  un.ler 
conditions  of  exceptional  advantage,  which  couhl  not  fail  to 
secure  health  to  the  offspring  of  any  but  positively  diseased 
parents,  whose  union  no  coarse  intervention  of  anthropolo-ical 
science  is  needed  to  forbid.     The  nurseries,  with  everythin.r 
about  them,  are  beautiful.     Large  play-rooms  are  provided 
for   exercise  in  winter.     The   nurses  are  not  hirelin-s    hut 
numbers  of  the  Community  who  voluntarily  undertake  the 
oftce.     Every  precaution  is  taken  against  the  danger  of  wUh- 
tion      A  simple  and  wholesome  dietary  is  enforced,  and  no 
mother  or  grandmother  is  permitted  to  ruin  digestion  and 
temper  by  administering  first  a  poison  from  the  confectioner's 
and  then  another  poison  from  the  druggist's.     Lessons  may 
perhaps  be  lear^)e,l  Trom  the  nurseries  of  the  Oneida  Com- 
munity, but  -ot  th.)  lesson  for  which  the  Community  cites 


APPENDIX. 


HRl 


a  lonpr  roll  of  tho  hiorophants  d'  soienco,  that  it  Is  cood  in 
n.man  nnio„s  to  .lisroK-inl,  ,„•  treat  as  socondary,  tho  solec- 
.vo  inst.n.t  of  alT-ction,  an.l  to  br.od  human  boingH  aB  we 

iireeu  horses  or  s\vin«^ 

It  i8  by  no  means  surprising  that  tho  Perfectionists  should 
not  he  anxious  to  make  proselytes  to  the  possession  of  the 
One.da  estate,  :uhI  the  three  flourishing  faetories  upon  it 
any  more  Ihan  the  Happites  are  anxious  to  tnake  proselytes  to 
th..,r  m.IluHKS.  We  read  in  the  Circular,  under  the  head  of 
Admissions: 

Winch  th  .y  hav..  to  n.j.rr.     It  is  ditTicuIt  to  statu  i»  any  brief  way  all  their 
reasons  for  thus  lin.itiuK  thdr  numbers;  but  so.no  of  them  an   tW 
I.    I  he  parent  Conn.nu.ity  at  Oneida  is  full.     Its  buikliuKs  an,  adapted 

ties  thouKh  they  have  not  attai.u.d  tho  norn.al  size,  have  as  many  mom- 
bers  as  they  can  well  aoc.munu.late,  an.l  n.u.st  «n>w  in  nu.nbers  only  as 
they  grow  .n  capital  and  buildings.  ;j.  The  kind  of  nu-n  and  w  >  n  who 
are  l.kely  to  tnake  the  (Vnnnunuties  ^row,  spirUualU,  an,l  ,Umnultl 
scarce,  and  have  to  bo  sifted  out  .slowly  and  cautious^.  It  2  M  b^'dl 
tmctly  understood  that  these  Conununities  are  not  a.syl,uns  for  plelre^ 
seekers  or  persons  who  merely  want  a  home  and  a  livir.g  'H  ey  wTl 
rece.ve  only  those  who  are  very  tnuch  in  earnest  in  religion  TheThlvo 
already  done  their  full  share  of  labor  in  criticising  and  forking  over  raw 
r  cru.  s  and  mtend  hereafter  to  devote  then.solvcvs  to  otluT  jol^  (a  pel 

rikeTv"to  h?'  'T  Z  '""'^'  "^^'^'"^^  ""'y  «-''   -->i-s  as  se  m 
l.kely   0  help  and  not  lunder  their  work.     As  candidates  for  Communism 

iord  'on    7'^'""\*l"^^  "-y  --"^  ali  -ttle  at  Ot.ida  and    Valli.; 
ford.     Other  Communities  ,nu,st  be  forn.e.l :  and  the  best  way  for  earnest 
dKsoples  generally  is  to  work  and  wait,  till  the  Spirit  of  Pent    ost  sha 
co^n.  on  the.  neighbors,  and  give  them  communities  right  wh:re  th^y 

It  appears  that  from  a  pretty  early  period  regard  was  had 
to  financial  as  well  as  to  '•  spiritual "  qtialifications;  for  the 
amount  of  property  brought  in  by  members  of  the  Community 

^107,000.     This,  and  cheapness  of  living  in  common,  must  of 

ZZl     f  .t  n    ''''"  "'''""'  "^  estimating  the  commercial 
success  of  the  Community,  and  tracing  it  to  its  real  source 


iiiinii  mmmmmmmmmm 


i! 


n '' 


I     : 


I;  nil 


882 


QIIKSTIONS   OF   THE   DAY. 


That  the  Onoida  Community,  or  any  one  of  tho  group  to 
which  it  belongs,  has  solved  any  great  problem  for  humanity, 
or  even  tried  any  experiment  of  general  interest,  the  writer 
sees  not  the  slightest  ground  for  believing.  Of  course  noth- 
ing which  involves  celibacy  can  be  extended  beyond  a  few 
circles  of  fanatics,  such  a?  the  monks  in  former  days,  or  the 
Shakers  in  ours;  and  tlio  abolition  of  the  family  is,  except 
Avitliin  the  same  narrow  limit,  equally  impracticable  m  well 
as  utterly  revolting.  In  addition  to  which,  such  a  mode  of 
living  as  that  adopted  by  the  Oneida  Community,  and  essential 
to  the  application  o*^  their  principles,  is  wholly  at  variance 
with  the  general  conditions  of  industrial  life.  Close  to  tlie 
mansion  of  the  Community  runs  a  railroad  on  which  they  ship 
their  goods,  and  wliich  is  necessary  to  their  subsistence. 
Can  they  imagine  it  possible  to  organise  the  life  cf  tlie  people 
employed  upon  that  railroad  after  tlie  model  of  their  own? 
They  send  some  of  their  goods  across  the  ocean.  Do  they 
think  that  tlie  sailors  who  carry  these  goods  can  be  gathered 
with  their  families  into  a  communistic  home? 

There  is  at  Brooklin,  on  the  Southern  shore  of  Lake  Erie, 
another  comnumity  which  has  attracted  notice  from  number- 
ing among  its  members  an  Englishman  of  some  distinction, 
j\[r.  Laurence  Oliphant.  About  this  association  little  is 
known,  ^  even  among  the  people  at  Oneida,  whose  curiosity  it 
naturally  excites.  But  it  appears  to  bo  not  a  counterpart  of 
Oneida,  but  a  small  group  of  houst^holders  living  under  the 
presidency  of  Mr.  Harris,  the  pro]iliot  of  a  religion  akin  to 
Swedenborgianism,  and  entrusting  their  property  to  his  hands. 
So  long  as  that  property  holds  out,  the  Community  may  of 
course  continue  to  exist  witliout  impugning  any  of  the  received 
laws  of  political  economy,  or  introducing  any  new  principle 
into  the  world. 

It  is  true  that  there  may  be  points  worthy  the  attention  of 
the  social  pathologist  in  connection  with  the  tendencies  which 

1  This,  it  will  be  borne  in  mind,  was  written  in  1874.  The  mystery  of 
the  Lake  Erie  Community  has  been  since  revealed.  The  revelation  con- 
firms what  is  said  in  the  text. 


i«ril 


Ari'KNDIX. 


383 


have  calleclthese  strango  structures  into  existence,  though  the 
subject  IS  too  extensive  to  be  .liscussed  at  the  close  of  this 
paper.     Among  the  i.npelling  motives  have  evidently  been  the 
discomfort  and  the  waste  attendant  on  the  domestic  eeonon.y 
of  our  separate  households,  whicli  advancing  civilisation  will 
surely  teach  tis  in  some  degree  to  mitigate.     Another  motive 
IS  the  desire  of  escaping  from  the  gloom  and  dulness  of  exces- 
sive  family   isolation    into   more   mixed   and  more  cheerful 
society.     The  family  is  the  centre  of  happiness;  but  at  the 
same  time  a  man  and  woman  can  rarely  be  so  gifted  as,  after 
tho   honeymoon     to  be   absolutely  sufficient  for  each  other. 
Ihe  writer  of  this  paper  was  once  the  guest  of  a  friend  resid- 
ing in  the  neighbourhood  of  London,  and  in  tlie  middle  of  a 
district  of  suburban  villas.     On  his  noticing  the  number  of 
houses  bespeaking  opulence  which  was  visible  on  every  side 
his  friend  replied,  "Yes,  and  you  would  suppose  thenfwas  I 
great  deal  of  good  society  here.     There  is  absolutely  none 
It  is  impossible  to  bring  these  families  together  for  any  social 
purpose  whatever.     The  man  goes  up  to  his  place  of  business 
in  London  every  morning;  stays  there  till  he  returns  homi- 
lor  dinner,  then  reads  the  newspaper  tlie  rest  of  the  e^enin- 
I^or  two  months  in  each  summer  the  family  goes  to  a  water- 
ing-place where  it  lives  in  a  private  lodging  by  itself      That 
is  the  whole  existence  of  these  people."     A  dreary  and  a  trun- 
cated sort  of  existence  it  is.      Unfortunately  it  is  not  eon- 
fined  to  the  suburbs  of  London.     We  n.>ed  in  Canada,  as  much 
as  aiiywhere,   to  learn  tlie  art   of   preserving  the  happiness 
ot  the  family  by  supplementing  it  with  the  enjoyments  of 
more  general  society  in  a  cheap  and  reasonable  way. 

Communism,  in  a  certain  sense,  was  no  doul^t  the  original 
condition  of  mankind;  at  least  tribal  not  private  ownor.hin 
of  land  IS  the  rule  of  primeval  history:  and  probably  thils 
union  of  interest  served  an  important  purpose  in  the  founda- 
tion of  primitive  States.  A  temporary  communism  has  also 
played  a  memorable  part  in  the  commencement  of  great  reli- 
gious or  social  enterprises.  The  first  preachers  of  Christianitv 
tor  a  time  had  all  things  in  common,  and  so  had  the  founders 


I 


I : 


384 


QUESTIONS   OF  THE   DAY. 


I  ( 


I 

i 


of  New  England.  Monachism  was  also  communistio,  and 
partly  in  virtue  of  its  detacliment  from  the  ties  and  cares  of 
property,  it  was  able  to  perform  a  mighty  work  in  the  conver- 
sion of  the  Barbarians,  and  the  foundation  of  Christian  civi- 
lisation. Besides  these  limited  instances,  extensive  though 
vague  manifestations  of  the  communistic  sentiment  have  gen- 
erally attended  the  great  crises  of  history,  such  as  the  Re- 
formation, and  the  English  and  French  Revokitions.  It  is 
difficult  to  believe  that  such  yearnings  of  humanity,  though 
premature  and  abortive,  arc  without  any  significance.  "  Pro- 
perty has  its  duties  as  well  as  its  rights,"  is  a  sentiment  the 
distinct  expression  of  which  is  comparatively  of  recent  date. 
It  may  perhaps  gain  force  and  ascendancy  till,  in  the  course 
of  ages,  the  right  of  property  is  by  a  spoiitaneous  process 
virtually  merged  in  social  duty.  The  saying  of  the  Greek 
dramatist,  as  to  the  Omnipotence  of  time,  has  acquired  new 
meaning  from  the  late  revelations  of  science  and  historical 
philosophy.  But  the  attempts  of  American  Socialists  and  Com- 
munists at  once  to  transmute  humanity  by  founding  Utopias, 
have  all  come  to  nothing.  For  the  present,  the  only  seat  of 
communism,  and  the  proper  sphere  of  the  communistic  sen- 
timent, is  the  family,  if  the  Woman's  Eight  party  will  only 
have  the  wisdom  to  let  it  alone. 


1 1 


Y 


^Icyff  ^y^''^*f'f 


nistio,  and 
nd  cares  of 
the  conver- 
•istian  civi- 
live  though 
b  have  gen- 
as  the  Re- 
ons.  It  is 
ity,  though 
ice.  "  Pro- 
itinient  the 
ecent  date. 
I  the  course 
ous  process 
:  the  Greek 
quired  new 
i  historical 
ts  and  Com- 
ng  Utopias, 
)nly  seat  of 
inistic  sen- 
y  will  only 


